Final Ratings: Clippers Games Setting NBA TV Records, Performing Strong Locally

Clippers games are showing strong ratings and viewership at the start of the season for both national and local telecasts. NBA TV has shown six Clippers games thus far, with three of those games ranking as the net’s three most-viewed regular-season telecasts ever. The Jan. 14 Lakers-Clippers contest ranks as the net’s most-viewed regular-season game, with 756,000 viewers. That figure is higher than all but one of the net’s seven playoff telecasts last season. ESPN’s most-viewed regular-season game this season also involves the Clippers, with the Jan. 11 game against the Heat averaging 3.5 million viewers. Meanwhile, FS Prime Ticket earned a 3.3 local rating for the Clippers-Thunder game on Monday night, marking an all-time Clippers record on the net. The previous record was a 2.6 rating for the Jan. 25 game against the Lakers. Monday’s Clippers-Thunder matchup earned an 8.8 local rating on FS Oklahoma, marking the net’s most-viewed NBA regular-season game ever. The previous record was a 7.6 rating for Suns-Thunder on Dec. 31.

STAR WARS: The NFL Pro Bowl on NBC last Sunday night averaged a 7.3 final Nielsen rating and 12.498 million viewers, down 5% and 7%, respectively, from a 7.7 rating and 13.406 million viewers for the telecast last year on Fox. Despite the drop, this year’s Pro Bowl ranks as the second-best audience for the event since ’01. The program finished second for the night behind an episode of CBS’ “Undercover Boss,” which drew a 7.9 rating and 13.2 million viewers. On the college front, NFL Network aired coverage of the East-West Shrine Game on Jan. 21 and the Under Armour Senior Bowl on Jan. 28. The Shrine Game averaged 397,000 viewers, down 29% from 559,000 viewers last year, while the net’s Senior Bowl coverage averaged 662,000 viewers, down 24% from 874,000 viewers. NBC Sports Network on Jan. 21 aired coverage of the AstroTurf NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, which averaged 143,000 viewers.

FIGHT NIGHTS: The second iteration of the “UFC on Fox” finished with a 2.6 rating and 4.7 million viewers last Saturday night from 8:00-10:16pm ET, down 16% and 18%, respectively, from the debut telecast in November. That telecast lasted only one hour. Fox earned a win for the night among adults 18-49, and the UFC telecast finished third for the night in viewers behind episodes of “48 Hours Mystery” and “Crimetime Saturday” on CBS. Meanwhile, “NBC Sports Network Fight Night” averaged 264,000 viewers for its debut boxing telecast on Jan. 21. NBCSN will air three more boxing events this year, each on a Saturday night. By comparison, the season debut of “Friday Night Fights” on ESPN2 on Jan. 6 averaged 414,000 viewers.

NOTES: The ’12 NHL All-Star Game averaged a 0.8 U.S. rating and 1.3 million viewers on NBCSN from 4:00-7:02pm last Sunday. While the rating for the game is flat compared to last year, viewership was down 11%. Saturday night’s skills competition averaged a 0.6 rating and 1.104 million viewers, down from a 0.7 rating and 1.183 million viewers last year....ESPN and ESPN2 are posting audience increases over last year for men’s college basketball telecasts. ESPN is averaging 1.36 million viewers through Jan. 26, up 3% from 1.31 million viewers at the same point last season. The net’s most-viewed game to date remains the North Carolina-Michigan State Carrier Classic, which averaged 3.9 million viewers. ESPN2 is averaging 517,000 viewers, up 9% from 473,000 viewers.

The charts below list final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts. All ratings listed are U.S. ratings.

TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RAT.	VIEWERS (000)
NFL Pro Bowl	1/29	NBC	7:31-10:43pm	7.3	12,498
NBA: Bulls-Heat	1/29	ABC	3:326-6:19pm	3.5	5,699
"UFC on Fox"	1/28	Fox	8:00-10:19pm	2.6	4,661
U.S. Figure Skating Championships: Ladies' Free Skate	1/28	NBC	9:00-11:00pm	2.4	3,711
U.S. Figure Skating Championships: Pairs' and Men's Free Skate	1/29	NBC	3:00-6:01pm	1.8	2,792
PGA Tour: Farmers Insurance Open: Final Round	1/29	CBS	3:00-7:00pm	1.8	2,624
NCAA Basketball: Michigan-Ohio State	1/29	CBS	1:00-3:00pm	1.5	2,279
U.S. Figure Skating Championships: Ladies' Short, Free Skate	1/28	NBC	4:00-6:00pm	1.2	1,774
Winter X Games	1/28	ABC	4:00-6:00pm	0.9	1,457
PGA Tour: Farmers Insurance Open: Third Round	1/28	CBS	3:24-6:00pm	1.0	1,374
PBR 15/15 Bucking Battle (taped)	1/29	NBC	1:30-3:00pm	0.9	1,338
Mexico Primera Division: UNAM-Chivas de Guadalajara	1/29	Univ	12:55-3:00pm	0.5	1,028
Monster Energy AMA Supercross (taped)	1/29	CBS	12:00-1:00pm	0.7	996
NCAA Basketball: Texas-Baylor	1/28	CBS	1:00-3:24pm	0.7	940
Mexico Primera Division: San Luis-Club America	1/28	Telef	9:58pm-12:00am	0.4	755
Skiing: U.S. Freestyle Cup (taped)	1/28	NBC	3:00-4:00pm	0.4	592
Mexico Primera Division: Pachuca-Queretaro	1/28	Telef	7:55-9:58pm	0.3	479
TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RAT.	VIEWERS (000)
NBA: Knicks-Heat	1/27	ESPN	8:06-10:40pm	1.5	2,286
Winter X Games	1/29	ESPN	9:26-11:25pm	1.2	2,015
Winter X Games	1/29	ESPN	4:00-5:00pm	1.0	1,778
NBA: Grizzlies-Clippers	1/26	TNT	10:52pm-1:39am	1.2	1,680
NBA: Celtics-Magic	1/23	TNT	8:16-10:52pm	1.1	1,632
Winter X Games	1/29	ESPN	3:01-4:00pm	1.0	1,634
Winter X Games	1/29	ESPN	5:00-6:01pm	0.9	1,628
NCAA Basketball: Duke-Maryland	1/25	ESPN	9:07-11:03pm	1.1	1,559
NCAA Basketball: Kentucky-Georgia	1/24	ESPN	9:04-10:52pm	1.0	1,537
NCAA Basketball: Kansas-Iowa State	1/28	ESPN	2:15-4:14pm	1.0	1,441