Nielsens: College Hoops Ratings, PGA, NBA, OOH

Ohio State-Michigan topped last weekend’s college hoops ratings charts. In other news, PGA ratings held steady against the Olympics last weekend, the NBA returned from the All-Star break with mixed numbers, and out-of-home viewership gave slight boosts to the Daytona 500 and College Football Playoff.

Ohio State-Michigan Leads Last Weekend CBB

Ohio State-Michigan was last weekend’s highest rated and most-watched college basketball game, scoring a 1.2 rating and 1.97 million viewers on CBS Sunday — down a tick in ratings but up 2% in viewership from last year (Maryland-Wisconsin: 1.3, 1.95M).

Saturday’s Alabama-Kentucky matchup was second, with a 1.2 and 1.8 million on CBS. There was no comparable window last year. Rounding out the top five, West Virginia-Kansas had a 0.95 (+6%) and 1.6 million (+6%) on ESPN, Villanova-Xavier had a 0.9 (+87%) and 1.4 million (+114%) on FOX, and North Carolina-Louisville had a 0.7 (-32%) and 1.2 million (-26%) on ESPN.

Shifting to the workweek, Oklahoma-Kansas had a 0.8 and 1.4 million on ESPN’s Big Monday — up a tick in ratings and 28% in viewership from last year (Texas-WVU: 0.7, 1.1M). Miami-Notre Dame had a 0.47 (-36%) and 702,000 (-37%) earlier in the night.

As for Super Tuesday, Kentucky-Arkansas drew a 0.8 (+33%) and 1.2 million (+25%) and Illinois-Michigan State a 0.55 and 806,000 (+1%).

PGA L.A. Ratings Even Despite Olympics

Last Sunday’s final round of the PGA L.A. Open had a 2.0 final rating and 3.00 million viewers on CBS, flat in ratings and down 2% in viewership from last year (2.0, 3.04M), and down 13% and 17% respectively from 2016 (2.3, 3.6M). It was the least-watched final round since 2014, the last time coverage faced the Winter Olympics (2.4M).

Third round action the previous day had a 1.5 (flat) and 2.2 million (-2%). Lead-in coverage on Golf Channel had a 0.57 (+36%) and 833,000 (+37%) on Saturday and a 0.58 (-13%) and 889,000 (-13%) on Sunday.

NBA Mixed in Return From Hiatus

In the first NBA games after the All-Star break, Wizards-Cavaliers drew 2.1 million viewers and Clippers-Warriors 1.6 million on TNT Thursday night — up 1% and down 38%, respectively, from last year’s doubleheader of Knicks-Cavaliers (2.05M) and Clippers-Warriors (2.6M).

Out of Home Lifts Daytona, CFB Playoff

Nielsen out-of-home viewership increased Sunday’s Daytona 500 audience 5% from 9.35 million viewers (across TV and streaming) to 9.78 million. That would still rank as the second-smallest Daytona audience on record, ahead of 2014 (9.3M). Nielsen did not calculate out-of-home viewership prior to 2016.

In related news, ESPN’s College Football Playoff games had similar out-of-home growth. The Alabama-Georgia national championship game increased 5% from 28.4 million (across TV and streaming) to 29.9 million. The Georgia-Oklahoma Rose Bowl increased 6% from 26.8 to 28.3 million. Finally, the Alabama-Clemson Sugar Bowl rose 3% from 21.5 to 22.1 million.

As previously reported, out-of-home viewership lifted the Super Bowl 12% from 106.0 to 118.2 million viewers.

[Numbers from ShowBuzz Daily 2.21, 2.23, Programming Insider 2.22a, 2.22b, Fox Sports, ESPN]