TV ratings for sports other than hockey

[Kirk Van Houten]

Big numbers, but four-year lows, for Sunday's NFL Divisional games

The NFL delivered its customary massive audiences on Divisional Round Sunday, but both windows hit four-year viewership lows.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Sunday’s Ravens-Bills AFC Divisional Round game averaged 42.2 million viewers on CBS, per Nielsen fast-nationals — down 16% from Chiefs-Bills in the same window last year (50.4M) and the least-watched game in the late Sunday Divisional Round window since Buccaneers-Saints in 2021 (35.5M). (It should be noted that each of the intervening games featured the Chiefs or Cowboys.) Even with the somewhat surprising four-year low, the Bills’ win delivered the tenth-largest Divisional Round audience on record. (Keep in mind Nielsen did not begin tracking out-of-home viewing in its estimates until 2020.)

Earlier in the day, NBC averaged a combined audience of 37.8 million for Rams-Eagles across Nielsen fast-nationals and Adobe Analytics — down from 40.4 million for Buccaneers-Lions last year. The Eagles’ win was the least-watched game in the early Sunday Divisional Round window since 2021 — when Browns-Chiefs drew a Nielsen-only audience of 34.3 million on CBS.

Through the Divisional Round, eight of ten NFL playoff games have declined from last year. That includes three of four games on Divisional Round weekend, the exception being Texans-Chiefs on ESPN/ABC.

 

[Brodie]

The college football national championship game posted a 12% ratings decline from last year, none of this year's playoff games made the top 12 all time since the format was introduced in 2014

 

[LadyStanley]

College Football Playoff: 22 million people watched Ohio State’s win over Notre Dame, down from last year

The Buckeyes' win over Notre Dame peaked at more than 26 million viewers on Monday night.

sports.yahoo.com

22m watched CFP title game

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Expect this to change as soon as 2027 when ABC gets to broadcast them again

 

[varsaku]

The college football national championship game posted a 12% ratings decline from last year, none of this year's playoff games made the top 12 all time since the format was introduced in 2014

The game was fairly one sided. Had it been closer, the viewership numbers would have been higher especially with these two involved. I didn't bother tuning in since i knew Notre Dame would get blown out. They always have an easy schedule that has them too highly ranked as a result.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Ratings: NBA, TGL, Unrivaled and more

In a mixed week for the NBA, the Celtics-Lakers rivalry took a hit and the Martin Luther King Day slate bounced back.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Monday’s Martin Luther King Day doubleheader averaged 973,000 viewers on TNT and truTV, the highest for TNT’s MLK slate in four years — since the last time there were no football games on the holiday. Celtics-Warriors drew 1.32 million and Timberwolves-Grizzlies 671,000, up 158% and 94% respectively from last year’s pairing of Spurs-Hawks and Grizzlies-Warriors, which faced unexpected competition from a rescheduled NFL playoff game.

Thursday’s Celtics-Lakers NBA regular season game averaged 1.2 million viewers across TNT and truTV, down 13% from Warriors-Kings last year (1.39M), with the caveat that coverage overlapped with a delayed Heat-Bucks game that pushed the start exclusively to truTV. Heat-Bucks, which began an hour later than scheduled, averaged 1.05 million — down 24% from Celtics-Heat a year ago (1.39M). ESPN averaged 1.17 million for Timberwolves-Mavericks and 1.09 million for Warriors-Kings Wednesday, down 30% and up 80% respectively from last year’s overlapping games on ABC (Suns-Mavericks: 1.68M) and ESPN (Thunder-Spurs: 604K). On Tuesday, TNT and truTV drew 979,000 for Knicks-Nets (-1%) and 840,000 for Sixers-Nuggets (-36%). Last Friday, ESPN drew 1.15 million for Magic-Celtics and 1.13 million (-43%) for Grizzlies-Spurs (-4%).

 

[LadyStanley]

https://sports.yahoo.com/chiefs-bills-afc-title-game-delivers-record-audience-of-574m-viewers-175105330.html

AFC title 57.4m viewers

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Commanders-Eagles hits low, capping down year for NFC

Long the power conference in the NFL, the NFC completed a soft season in the ratings with a multi-year low for its championship game.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Sunday’s Commanders-Eagles NFC Championship Game averaged 44.2 million viewers across the Fox Sports family of networks, marking the least-watched NFL conference title game since Bills-Chiefs on CBS in 2021 (42.8M) and the least-watched NFC title game since Packers-49ers in 2020, the last year before Nielsen began including out-of-home data in its viewership estimates (42.5M on FOX, 43.9M across all Fox platforms). Overall, it was the third-least watched NFC Championship Game on FOX since 2013 — ahead of only Packers-49ers in ’20 and Vikings-Eagles in 2018 (42.3M on FOX, 42.8M across all Fox platforms).

All six NFC games this postseason declined from last year, with four of those down by double-digits. By comparison, only three of six AFC games declined, one by double-digits. The downward trend for the NFC playoffs comes on the heels of NFC-affiliated FOX having its least-watched regular season in four years, not coincidentally since the last time the Cowboys failed to make the playoffs.

Latest Bills-Chiefs thriller is most-watched AFC title game on record

Long the lesser NFL conference, the AFC continues to reach new ratings heights on the backs of star quarterbacks and new rivalries.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Sunday’s Bills-Chiefs AFC Championship Game averaged 57.7 million viewers on CBS, marking the largest audience on record for an AFC title game (dating back to 1988) and the most-watched conference championship overall since Vikings-Saints on FOX in 2010 (57.9M). Going back further, the only other conference title game with a larger recorded audience was Cowboys-49ers in 1982, which was said to have averaged 68.7 million in an era before Nielsen people meters. The only other time the Patrick Mahomes-era Chiefs and Josh Allen-era Bills met in the AFC title game was in the COVID-affected 2020-21 season, when the matchup averaged 42.3 million. All other playoff meetings took place in the Divisional Round, which generally does not attract the kind of audiences typical of a conference championship.

The AFC title game averaged 13.5 million more viewers than its NFC counterpart (44.2M), or 31% — the biggest gap between title games on both a raw and percentage basis since 1996. That year, Packers-Cowboys on FOX outdrew Colts-Steelers on CBS by nearly 15 million viewers and nearly 40 percent. That gap is broadly indicative of the changing fortunes of the AFC and NFC, the latter of which has long been the most attractive conference. AFC-affiliated CBS averaged more viewers than NFC-affiliated FOX for a second-straight regular season, a feat that prior to last year had not been accomplished since 2007.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Ratings: NBA, NASCAR Clash, PGA Tour

On a mixed weekend for the NBA, Lakers-Knicks topped the Saturday charts despite a modest decline from a year ago. Plus: NASCAR an PGA.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Saturday’s Lakers-Knicks NBA regular season game averaged 2.51 million viewers on ABC, down 8% from the same matchup on the same weekend last year (2.74M), but the most-watched sporting event of a day that included the Duke-North Carolina men’s college basketball rivalry. It was also the most-watched primetime show of the night and the top program of the day among viewers under 50. On Sunday, ESPN averaged 1.66 million for Celtics-Sixers following the NFL Pro Bowl — up 12% from Clippers-Heat in that window last year (1.49M), and the most-watched NBA game on cable since Thunder-Cavaliers on ESPN early last month. Grizzlies-Bucks followed with 1.48 million. Rounding out the recent NBA slate, ESPN drew 1.17 million for Suns-Warriors and 1.12 million for Nuggets-Sixers on Friday.

 

[Reaser]

Ratings: NBA, NASCAR Clash, PGA Tour

On a mixed weekend for the NBA, Lakers-Knicks topped the Saturday charts despite a modest decline from a year ago. Plus: NASCAR an PGA.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Saturday’s Lakers-Knicks NBA regular season game averaged 2.51 million viewers on ABC, down 8% from the same matchup on the same weekend last year (2.74M), but the most-watched sporting event of a day that included the Duke-North Carolina men’s college basketball rivalry. It was also the most-watched primetime show of the night and the top program of the day among viewers under 50. On Sunday, ESPN averaged 1.66 million for Celtics-Sixers following the NFL Pro Bowl — up 12% from Clippers-Heat in that window last year (1.49M), and the most-watched NBA game on cable since Thunder-Cavaliers on ESPN early last month. Grizzlies-Bucks followed with 1.48 million. Rounding out the recent NBA slate, ESPN drew 1.17 million for Suns-Warriors and 1.12 million for Nuggets-Sixers on Friday.

Looks like the Pro Bowl got 4.7M across ABC/ESPN/DisXD:

NFL Pro Bowl Ratings Drop Again Despite Flag Football Push

Viewership for the Pro Bowl Games decreased for the third consecutive year in the rebranded iteration of the league’s all-star contest. ABC, ESPN, and Disney XD drew 4.7 million viewers.

frontofficesports.com

 

[Greatzsky 99]

Anyone keeping check of avg for NBA this season? maybe my memory is short, or
i didnt pay close attention, but the games under 1 million seems to be more.