LeBron James‘ move to the Lakers continues to pay dividends for the NBA’s TV partners. Also: ratings for Thursday college football on ESPN, NASCAR’s Xfinity Series, and the UEFA Champions League.
LeBron’s Lakers Fuel Big Increase on TNT
Nuggets-Lakers scored 1.95 million viewers on the NBA on TNT Thursday night, up 77% from last year (Pelicans-Kings: 1.10M). Through the first two weeks of the season, the Lakers’ three nationally televised games rank among the six most-watched.
Earlier in the night, Celtics-Thunder had a 0.9 rating and 1.48 million viewers (+6%). Boston’s comeback win was the first non-Laker game this season to post an increase in viewership (10 telecasts).
Thursday CFB Down on ESPN
ESPN scored a 0.6 rating and 968,000 viewers for Thursday’s Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech college football game, down 17% in viewership from Stanford-Oregon State last year (1.16M, rating n/a), and down 50% and 48% respectively from 2016 (Virginia Tech-Pittsburgh: 1.85M).
NASCAR Xfinity Series Up Double-Digits at Kansas
Last Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race from Kansas earned a 0.9 rating and 1.29 million viewers on NBC, up a tick in ratings and 17% in viewership from last year (0.8, 1.10M), but down 10% in both measures from 2016 (1.0, 1.44M). The double-digit increase was a stark contrast to Sunday’s Cup Series race, which set broadcast network lows.
Univision Hitting UEFA Milestones
Tuesday’s Manchester United-Juventus UEFA Champions League group stage match earned 531,000 viewers on Univision, marking the fifth-largest group stage audience on record. Each of the top five has aired this year on Univision. Coverage of the same match had 316,000 on TNT, bringing the combined total up to 847,000.
[Numbers from Nielsen via Programming Insider 10.26; ShowBuzz Daily 10.23; Univision PR/Twitter 10.25]
