Part one of HBO’s “Tiger” was the network’s most-watched sports documentary in two years. Plus: ESPN dominated its peers last year despite a sharp decline; the Nets’ first game after trading for James Harden scored a double-digit bump; and more.
“Tiger” top HBO Sports doc since 2018
Part one of the HBO documentary “Tiger” averaged a Nielsen-estimated 639,000 viewers across all HBO platforms Sunday night, a figure that includes an encore presentation. The initial airing averaged 340,000 on HBO’s linear channel. According to The Wrap, it was the most-watched HBO Sports documentary since “Andre the Giant” in 2018.
To put the numbers in perspective, “Tiger” averaged fewer viewers than any of the Sunday night documentary premieres on ESPN during last year’s sports hiatus — including parts one and two of the relatively low-rated “Lance” (857K and 756K). Keep in mind “Tiger” faced a live NFL playoff game while the ESPN documentaries aired during the deadest period in modern sports history.
ESPN easily tops other sports nets in down year
ESPN averaged 564,000 total-day viewers in 2020, down 22% from last year (719K) — a relatively modest decline considering there was a four-month period in which it aired no live team sports. Fox Sports 1 a distant second at 119,000, with NFL Network (113K), NBCSN (108K) and ESPN2 (107K) rounding out the top five, according to Sports Business Daily.
Nets’ first post-trade game up double-digits
Wednesday’s Nets-Knicks NBA regular season game averaged 1.18 million viewers on ESPN, up 27% from Nets-Sixers on the comparable January date last year (934K), but down 32% from Bucks-Rockets in 2019 (1.73M). The game aired in the hours after news broke of Brooklyn’s trade for James Harden. The Pelicans-Clippers nightcap chipped in 987,000 (-13%).
Going back to last week, ESPN averaged a 0.9 rating and 1.59 million viewers for Clippers-Warriors last Friday night — down 18% in ratings and 11% in viewership from Lakers-Mavericks last year (1.1, 1.79M) but flat and up 14% respectively from 2019 (Thunder-Blazers: 0.9 1.39M). The same matchup two nights earlier pulled a 0.8 (+14%) and 1.33 million (+30%).
Hornets-Pelicans averaged a 0.7 (flat) and 1.17 million (+24%) earlier Friday. Sixers-Nets pulled a 0.6 (flat) and 1.14 million (+7%) and Mavericks-Nuggets a 0.6 (-40%) and 993,000 (-37%) on TNT last Thursday. Celtics-Heat chipped in a 0.53 (-25%) and 952,000 (-8%) on January 6.
Keep in mind that last week’s NBA games had to compete with cable news coverage of a riot at the U.S. capitol and Wednesday’s games faced coverage of a presidential impeachment.
Plus: College hoops, PGA Tour
Airing immediately after an NFL Wild Card game, last Saturday’s Oklahoma-Kansas college basketball game averaged a 1.3 rating and 2.00 million viewers on CBS — the highest rated and most-watched game of the season. The previous highs were a 1.15 for Michigan State-Duke in the Champions Classic and 1.98 million for Wisconsin-Michigan State on FOX Christmas Day. … In other college hoops action, Wisconsin-Michigan averaged 1.15 million viewers (+8%) and Alabama-Kentucky 873,000 (-11%) in ESPN’s Super Tuesday doubleheader. … Final round coverage of the PGA Tour Tournament of Champions averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.10 million viewers on NBC last Sunday, flat in ratings and up 13% in viewership from last year, when the network aired third round action (0.7, 975K).
[Nielsen estimates from The Wrap 1.12, Sports Business Daily 1.14, ShowBuzz Daily 1.12, 1.13, 1.14; 2019 rankings via The Wrap 12.30.19]
