The NBA posted more viewership declines; the NHL was down again on TNT, albeit with slight declines; plus USMNT and Iowa women’s basketball.
NBA continues season trend of viewership declines
Wednesday’s ESPN NBA doubleheader saw a pair of viewership declines, with Grizzlies-Lakers averaging 1.52 million viewers — down 11% from Kings-Lakers last year (1.711 million). Pelicans-Thunder opened the night by drawing 1.08 million, down a stark 42% from Celtics-Sixers last year (1.848 million).
Shifting to the prior Friday, ESPN averaged 1.41 million viewers for Sixers-Lakers — down 27% from Lakers-Suns a year ago (1.929 million). Opening the night was the Suns-Mavericks, which averaged 1.31 million viewers, down a lesser 7% from Nets-Celtics a year ago (1.408 million).
NHL posts a pair of slight declines on Wednesday
Red Wings-Penguins on TNT drew 354,000 viewers on Wednesday night, down 3% from Flyers-Hurricanes last year (365K). It is worth noting that Wednesday’s contest was non-exclusive for the network and unavailable in the Pittsburgh market. Later in the night, Kings-Avalanche averaged 231,000 viewers, down 2% from last year’s Islanders-Canucks (236K).
TNT’s season average is currently down 18% from last year but up a slight 1% from the 2022-2023 season.
USMNT sees a slight decrease in Nations League
TNT averaged 341,000 viewers for the USMNT’s first leg of the CONCACAF Nations League Quarterfinal against Jamaica on Thursday, down a mere 2% from last year’s first leg quarterfinal between the USMNT and Trinidad and Tobago (348K). The USMNT’s second leg against Jamaica will be played on Monday with the match airing on TNT.
Post-Caitlin Clark Iowa makes national television debut
ESPN2 averaged 209,000 viewers for last Sunday’s Virginia Tech-Iowa women’s college basketball game, the Hawkeyes’ first game on Nielsen-rated television this season. Last season, Iowa’s first ESPN network game drew 583,000 viewers on a Thursday night on ESPN2, also against Virginia Tech. The obvious caveat for the substantial decrease is the absence of Caitlin Clark from the court, along with the competition of going head-to-head with NFL Sunday this season vs. NFL Thursday last season.
Wednesday’s Iowa-Toledo contest drew 136,000 viewers on Big Ten Network. There was no comparable window last season.
