A marquee NBA matchup topped sports viewing for Wednesday, March 6.
Wednesday’s Bucks-Warriors NBA regular season game averaged 1.37 million viewers on ESPN, up 37% from Raptors-Clippers on the same night last year (998K) and the most-watched sportscast of the day. The Clippers-Rockets lead-in ranked second for the day with 1.00 million, down 15% from last year’s comparable Mavericks-Pelicans game. The full doubleheader averaged 1.18 million, up 9%.
Shifting to the college game, ESPN2 averaged 740,000 for a Tennessee-South Carolina men’s matchup — the network’s fourth-largest audience of the season. Tennessee games account for two of the top four, with the previous week’s matchup against Auburn placing second (926K).
BYU-Iowa State led in with 564,000. In other action, FS1 drew 523,000 for UConn-Marquette, 235,000 for Villanova-Seton Hall and 128,000 for Fresno State-New Mexico. BTN drew 400,000 for Northwestern-Michigan State and 337,000 for Indiana-Minnesota. The comparable night of last season featured conference tournament games.
Moving beyond the hardwood, TNT averaged 357,000 for a Sabres-Maple Leafs NHL regular season game — down 4% from Blackhawks-Red Wings a year ago. Despite featuring a Canadian team, viewership outpaced the Red Wings-Avalanche lead-out. That game averaged 286,000, up 50% from a Ducks-Canucks a year ago (191K).
In soccer, a Chivas Guadalajara-Club America Concacaf Champions League match drew 299,000. Spanish-language coverage of the United States-Canada Women’s Gold Cup semifinal drew 139,000 on ESPN Deportes, no match for the Brazil-Mexico lead-in at 233,000. English-language coverage aired on Paramount+, which is not Nielsen-rated.
Wednesday, March 6 sports ratings
Updated chart, including UEFA Champions League on CBS:
Original chart below:
