Overnight ratings hit a three-year low for the NHL All-Star Game; the Pro Bowl Skills Challenge took a big hit; the Winter X Games got off to another bad start.
NHL All-Star Overnights at Three-Year Low
Saturday’s NHL All-Star Game delivered a 1.3 overnight rating on NBC, down 13% from last year (1.5), down 19% from 2017 (1.6), and the lowest for the game since it last aired on NBCSN in 2016 (1.2). Prior to this year, the game took place on a Sunday afternoon.
The 1.3 is the third-highest for the All-Star Game since 2004, with the caveat that this year’s edition was just the third on broadcast television over that span.
Buffalo led all markets Saturday night with a 5.9 rating, followed by Pittsburgh (4.7). St. Louis and Minneapolis-St. Paul tied at a 3.0, with Las Vegas rounding out the top five (2.7).
Pro Bowl Skills Challenge Down Big
Thursday’s NFL Pro Bowl Skills Challenge scored 761,000 viewers on ESPN, down 35% from last year (1.17M) and down 23% from the inaugural edition in 2017 (989K). Ratings were not immediately available.
As one would expect, it was no match for equivalent events in the other major sports, the MLB Home Run Derby (5.57M) and NBA All-Star Saturday Night (4.66M). Figures for this year’s NHL Skills Challenge, which took place Friday night, were not immediately available.
Another Rough Start For Winter X Games
ESPN scored just 307,000 viewers for night one of the Winter X Games on Thursday, down 23% from last year (399K) and down 38% from 2017 (498K). Just four years ago, the opening night audience was more-than-twice as high — 654,000.
[Numbers from NBC Sports PR/Twitter 1.27 a, b; ShowBuzz Daily 1.25]
