The “Tiger effect” gave TGL a lift in week two, if only a modest one. Plus: the latest numbers for the NBA and NHL, and figures for last weekend’s SuperCopa final between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
TGL gets modest lift in week two as Tiger debuts
The second edition of TGL, the new golf league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, averaged a 0.54 rating and 1.0 million viewers on ESPN — up 8% in ratings and 9% in viewership from the debut telecast the prior week (0.50, 919K). Woods made his TGL debut as his Jupiter Links team lost to Los Angeles.
TGL finished just shy of the competing Cavaliers-Pacers NBA game on TNT and truTV, which averaged 1.03 million.
Viewership peaked at 1.1 million in the 8:30 PM ET quarter-hour. After the debut telecast built on its college basketball lead-in by 28%, the second week of coverage outpaced its college basketball lead-out by more than 70 percent. This week as last, the adjacent college basketball game featured Duke, this time against Miami (587K).
Another quiet night for NBA on TNT
Tuesday’s Cavaliers-Pacers NBA regular season game averaged 1.03 million viewers across TNT and truTV, down 39% from Nuggets-Sixers last year (1.68M). The Nuggets-Mavericks nightcap drew a combined 961,000, down 16% from last year’s 1.15 million for Nuggets-Clippers.
Bruins-Panthers scores increase for ABC
Saturday’s Bruins-Panthers NHL regular season game averaged 1.05 million viewers on ABC, up 11% from Rangers-Capitals in the same window last year (954K). Boston’s win, which peaked with 1.4 million viewers in the 4 PM ET quarter-hour, delivered the second-largest audience of the NHL season — behind Rangers-Capitals the prior week (1.06M).
Going back to last Wednesday, TNT averaged 283,000 viewers for Avalanche-Blackhawks and 183,000 for Florida-Utah — down 22% and 34% respectively from last year.
Real Madrid-Barcelona tops million mark for second-straight year
The Real Madrid-Barcelona SuperCopa de Espana final averaged 1.2 million viewers on ABC and ESPN Deportes Sunday afternoon, down from the same matchup last year (1.4M), but up from two years ago, the first time it aired on ABC (978K). This year’s audience was the second-best on record for the event, with the caveat that it has only aired on broadcast TV the past three years.
