A Warriors-Celtics NBA Finals rematch delivered one of the NBA’s largest audiences all season. Plus: ESPN’s studio shows thrived on Wild Card Monday; Kansas-Kansas State delivered on Tuesday, and the NHL scored a bump on Thursday.
Warriors-Celtics NBA Finals rematch among top games of season
Thursday’s Warriors-Celtics NBA Finals rematch averaged 2.44 million viewers on TNT, up 72% from Suns-Mavericks last year (1.42M) and the network’s largest NBA audience since Opening Night. Overall, the Celtics’ overtime win ranks ninth for the season behind the Opening Night doubleheader, the five Christmas Day games, and the previous Finals rematch between the teams on ABC in December (3.14M).
Despite the big lead-in, viewership for the Nets-Suns nightcap (1.24M) declined 18% from last year’s equivalent Pacers-Warriors game (1.52M). Earlier in the day, NBA TV chipped in just 108,000 for the Bulls-Pistons game from Paris, France, marking the third-smallest audience of the season on any network.
In other action, ESPN averaged 1.22 million for Hawks-Mavericks and 1.01 million for Timberwolves-Nuggets on Wednesday — up 15% and 9% respectively from last year’s equivalent doubleheader (Hornets-Celtics: 1.06M; Clippers-Nuggets: 921K). TNT averaged just 922,000 for Sixers-Clippers and 849,000 for Raptors-Bucks on Tuesday night, with no equivalent windows last season.
PTI, other ESPN studio shows, hit highs on Wild Card Monday
Leading into ESPN’s NFL Wild Card coverage, ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption averaged 1.09 million viewers on Monday — up 12% from the same day last year (975K) and the show’s largest audience in more than five years — since January 9, 2018 (1.10M).
Earlier in the day, NFL Live averaged 801,000 viewers — up 35% from last year and its most-watched edition since 2015. The Monday Night Countdown pregame averaged 2.46 million, up 27% and the most-watched edition of that show since 2016. The postgame SportsCenter averaged 1.72 million, up 11%.
Bucking the upward trend, ESPN’s “First Take” averaged 734,000 — down 20% from last year (918K).
The Cowboys-Buccaneers game itself was the most-watched NFL telecast on the ESPN family of networks since Super Bowl 40 in 2006.
Kansas-K State scores big jump on ESPN
Tuesday’s Kansas-Kansas State men’s college basketball game averaged a 0.9 rating and 1.54 million viewers on ESPN, up 49% in ratings and 56% in viewership from Kansas-Oklahoma last year (0.59, 986K) and the most-watched weeknight game on any network since North Carolina-Indiana in December (1.63M).
The Georgia-Kentucky nightcap chipped in a 0.7 and 1.17 million, flat and 4% respectively from Duke-Florida State a year ago (0.7, 1.12M).
ESPN up, TNT down, for NHL this week
Thursday’s Lightning-Oilers NHL regular season game averaged 323,000 viewers on ESPN, up 3% from Avalanche-Kings last year (315K). While ESPN’s least-watched game of the month (four games), it was the first of those games to post a year-over-year increase.
The previous night, TNT averaged 280,000 viewers for Bruins-Islanders and 174,000 for Stars-Sharks — down 35% and 24% respectively from last year’s equivalent games (Maple Leafs-Rangers: 430K; Avalanche-Ducks: 230K).
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 1.18, ShowBuzz Daily 1.18, 1.19 1.20)
