Recent sports TV ratings news, including double-digit gains for the NBA, a weekday high for college basketball, and one of the better NHL numbers of the season.
Recent NBA viewership up double-digits
Wednesday’s Lakers-Jazz NBA regular season game averaged 1.33 million viewers on ESPN, up 40% from Celtics-Jazz last year (945K), despite Utah’s lopsided margin of victory. Earlier in the night, Warriors-Pacers drew 1.14 million, up 21% (from Grizzlies-Rockets: 940K).
On Thursday night, TNT scored 1.19 million for Pelicans-Bucks and 990,000 for Mavericks-Sixers, both up 12% from last year’s comparable games (Lakers-Warriors: 1.06M; Blazers-Pacers: 883K).
Iowa-Michigan hits weekday high for ESPN
Thursday’s Iowa-Michigan men’s college basketball game averaged 1.19 million viewers on ESPN, the most-watched weeknight college basketball game since Michigan-Maryland on New Year’s Eve (1.41M). Excluding holidays, it was the most-watched since the season-opening Champions Classic.
The Ohio State-Michigan State nightcap scored a 0.6 rating and 941,000 viewers. Ratings for Iowa-Michigan were not immediately available.
Flyers in four of top six games on cable this season
Rangers-Flyers averaged 569,000 viewers on the latest edition of NHL Wednesday Night Hockey on NBCSN, up 44% from Sabres-Avalanche last year (394K) and tied as the fifth-largest audience of the season on cable. The Flyers have played in four of the top six, including last Sunday’s record-setting outdoor game against the Bruins.
The Kings-Blues nightcap chipped in 241,000, down 17% from Penguins-Kings last year (291K).
[Nielsen estimates from Douglas Pucci/Twitter, ShowBuzz Daily 2.25, 2.26]
