A nearly 40-point margin resulted in double-digit declines for Spurs-Rockets Thursday. In other news, the Players Championship opened with a three-year viewership low, and the UEFA Champions League semifinals were no match for last year.
Spurs Clinching Rout Down Double-Digits
- Thursday’s Spurs-Rockets NBA Playoffs Game 6 had a 2.6 final rating and 4.2 million viewers on ESPN, down 21% in ratings and 20% in viewership from Spurs-Thunder last year (3.3, 5.2M) and down 38% and 37% respectively from Cavaliers-Bulls in 2015 (4.2, 6.6M). The Spurs’ 39-point win ranked just fourth for the night on television in adults 18-49 (1.6), behind two episodes of The Big Bang Theory on CBS (2.7; 1.8) and ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (1.8). It tied Big Bang as the night’s top show in adults 18-34 (1.5).
The Players Opens With Three-Year Low
- First round coverage of the PGA Tour Players Championship earned 676,000 viewers on Golf Channel Thursday, down 6% from last year (717K) and down 21% from 2015 (858K). It was the least-watched opening round of the tournament in three years.
UEFA Semis Down From Last Year
- The second leg of the Real Madrid-Atletico Madrid UEFA Champions League semifinal had 366,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1 Wednesday, down 22% from Real Madrid-Manchester City last year (472K) and down 48% from Real Madrid-Juventus in 2015 (704K). Spanish-langauge viewership was not immediately available. The first leg on May 2 had 373,000 on FS1 (-8%) and 406,000 on Fox Deportes. In the other semifinal, the second leg of Juventus-Monaco pulled 308,000 on FS1 Tuesday — down 28% from Bayern Munich-Atletico Madrid last year (430K) and down 42% from Bayern Munich-Barcelona in ’15 (530K). Spanish-language coverage on Fox Deportes had 158,000. The May 3 first leg had 310,000 (-13%).
(Numbers via Programming Insider 5.12, ShowBuzz Daily 5.12, 5.11, 5.10, 5.4, 5.3)
