The NBA limped into the Christmas holiday with yet more declines last Friday. In other news, college football’s bowl season posted a pair of declines on Friday, and Kentucky-North Carolina sank double-digits in the metered markets.
Before Christmas, More Declines For NBA Friday Night
Friday’s Pelicans-Lakers NBA regular season game drew 1.87 million viewers on ESPN, down 20% from Lakers-Warriors last year (2.32M). There was no comparable window in 2016. So far this season, the Lakers have played eight games on ESPN or TNT that can be compared to last year, and four have declined. Keep in mind that does not include their Christmas Day win over Golden State, which hit a three-year high in the overnights.
In the early window, Bucks-Celtics had 1.64 million — down 3% from last year (Clippers-Rockets: 1.70M). Ratings were not immediately available for Friday’s games.
Idaho, Bahamas, Bowls Decline
The BYU-Western Michigan Idaho Bowl earned 1.37 million viewers on ESPN Friday afternoon, down 8% from last year (Wyoming-CMU: 1.50M) but up 20% from 2016 (Idaho-Colorado State: 1.14M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Earlier in the day, FIU-Toledo scored 838,000 in the Bahamas Bowl — down 5% from last year (Ohio-UAB: 882K), down 39% from 2016 (Old Dominion-Eastern Michigan: 1.37M) and the smallest audience in the five-year history of the game.
Kentucky-UNC Overnights Down Double-Digits
Kentucky-North Carolina scored a 1.7 overnight rating in the back half of Saturday’s CBS Sports Classic, down 11% from UCLA-Kentucky last year (1.9) and down 29% from the same Kentucky-UNC matchup in 2016 (2.4). Earlier in the day, Ohio State-UCLA had a 1.1 (-8%).
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 12.26; Sports Business Daily 12.26]
