NBA viewership continues to trend behind last season; the NHL had another, albeit slight, drop on Tuesday; plus racing and soccer.
NBA struggles opposite World Series
Coverage of last Friday’s Pacers-Knicks game drew 830,000 viewers on ESPN opposite Game 1 of the World Series, down 47% from 1.58M for Heat-Celtics during Game 1 last year. The Suns-Lakers nightcap drew 1.37M, down 22% from Warriors-Kings last year. Wednesday’s doubleheader fared better against Game 5: Celtics-Pacers drew 1.01M viewers and the Thunder-Spurs nightcap averaged 0.73M, down 2% and 51% from Pelicans-Thunder (1.03M) and Clippers-Lakers (1.48M) last year.
On Tuesday, opposite Game 4, TNT averaged drew 1.07 million for Mavericks-Timberwolves (vs. Game 4) — down 17% from 1.30 million for Knicks-Cavaliers last year. Figures for the Pelicans-Warriors nightcap were not immediately available.
NHL slips on Tuesday
Rangers-Capitals on ESPN drew 412,000 viewers on Tuesday night, down 1% from Kings-Maple Leafs last year (418K). That is a smaller margin of decline than the league suffered in the early weeks of the season, though given last year’s game featured a Canadian team, that may not be saying much. Figures for TNT’s Golden Knights-Kings game on Wednesday were not immediately available.
F1 Mexico City GP nears high; NASCAR up at Homestead
Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday averaged 1.4 million viewers on ABC, off just 4% from last year’s record high (1.46M). The audience peaked at 1.6 million. With just four races left, the F1 season is up 2% on ESPN/ABC compared to last year’s full season average of 1.1 million.
NASCAR’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway scored a 1.3 rating and 2.34 million viewers on NBC, flat and up 4% (2.25M) respectively from last year. The last four weeks of Cup Series races have all posted viewership increases.
El Clasico sets new mark on ESPN Deportes
The first Real Madrid-Barcelona matchup of the La Liga season scored 709,000 viewers on ESPN Deportes, the most watched La Liga match on an ESPN platform and up 77% from last year. The 18-49 demo was up 131%. No raw numbers were disclosed, but ESPN reports engagement on ESPN+ was up 24% over last year.
In other soccer news, the US Women’s National Team friendly against Argentina averaged 228,000 viewers on TNT on Wednesday, 287,000 against Iceland on Sunday, and 331,000 against Iceland last Thursday.
