The premiere of “What Would Ryan Lochte Do?” on E! averaged 807,000 viewers last Sunday in the 10:00pm ET slot. The show marked the net’s third-best audience of the week. The lead-in for the show, an E! News Special featuring Ryan Seacrest interviewing The Kardashians, averaged 1.49 million viewers, and was the net’s most-viewed show of the week. Lochte's show is just the latest in athlete reality TV shows. The premiere of A&E’s “Tackling Design” with former NFLer Keyshawn Johnson in July ’09 averaged 527,000 viewers, while the premiere of VH1’s “The T.O. Show” with former NFLer Terrell Owens averaged 1.2 million viewers in July ’09. VH1 also averaged 1.5 viewers for the premiere of “Ochocinco: The Ultimate Catch” in July ’10. Back in April ’08, Oxygen averaged 579,000 viewers for the premiere of “Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love” with Pro Football HOFer Deion Sanders and his now ex-wife Pilar. One of the more recent athlete reality shows -- TLC's “Pete Rose: Hits and Mrs.” -- averaged 783,000 viewers for the premiere this past January.
OPENING TIP: The opening weekend of the NBA Playoffs averaged a 2.5 rating and 3.82 million viewers for eight games across ABC, ESPN and TNT, flat in rating compared to the opening weekend last year, but up 3% in viewership. The opening weekend of ’13 was down 7% and 12%, respectively, from a 2.8 rating and 4.32 million viewers in ’11.
I LOVE THE ‘80S: ESPN averaged 1.06 million viewers on Tuesday for the premiere of “Elway to Marino,” which was the net’s latest installment in the “30 for 30” series. Among the 48 documentaries that have aired on ESPN since the series began, that audience ranks 25th. The viewership for “Elway to Marino” was comparable to the premieres of “The Two Escobars” in June '10 (1.07 million viewers) and “Ghosts of Ole Miss” in October '12 (1.02 million viewers). In the doc, only former Patriots QB Tony Eason was not interviewed among the six QBs taken in the first round. Eason has kept a very low profile since retiring from the NFL in '90, and NFL Films said that it made multiple attempts to get Eason to participate. Eason was aware of the requests, but apparently was not interested in being interviewed.
NOTES: Through three weeks of Saturday afternoon regional telecasts, MLB on Fox is averaging a 1.7 rating and 2.4 million viewers, down 23% and 25%, respectively, from a 2.2 rating and 3.2 million viewers for the same period last year. Fox faced competition from the NBA Playoffs last weekend, which it did not have to face until Week 4 last year. Fox is coming off its lowest-rated season of MLB coverage in ’12….NFL Network averaged 247,000 viewers for its special on the ’13 NFL regular-season schedule release last Thursday night, up 16% from ’12….NBC Sports Network averaged 375,000 viewers for the IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach last Sunday afternoon, down 20% from the race last year. Through three IndyCar telecasts, NBCSN is averaging 343,000 viewers, flat compared to the net’s first three races last season. The net aired the season opener this year, whereas ABC carried it in ’12.
The charts below list final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| NASCAR Sprint Cup: Kansas | 4/21 | Fox | 1:00-4:00pm | 4.2 | 6,500 |
NBA Western Conference
First Round: Lakers-Spurs: Game 1 | 4/21 | ABC | 3:30-6:00pm | 3.6 | 5,514 |
NBA Eastern Conference
First Round: Celtics-Knicks: Game 1 | 4/20 | ABC | 3:00-5:30pm | 2.9 | 4,409 |
| "UFC on Fox 7" | 4/20 | Fox | 8:00-10:30pm | 2.2 | 3,742 |
PGA Tour: RBC Heritage:
Final Round | 4/21 | CBS | 3:00-6:37pm | 1.7 | n/a |
| MLB: (regional) | 4/20 | Fox | 4:00-7:00pm | 1.3 | 1,900 |
PGA Tour: RBC Heritage:
Third Round | 4/20 | CBS | 3:00-6:00pm | 1.0 | n/a |
| "NBA Countdown" | 4/21 | ABC | 3:00-3:30pm | 0.9 | 1,263 |
| Boxing: Fight Night | 4/20 | NBC | 4:00-6:00pm | 0.8 | 1,200 |
| "NBA Countdown" | 4/20 | ABC | 2:30-3:00pm | 0.9 | 1,147 |
| NHL: Devils-Rangers | 4/21 | NBC | 3:00-6:00pm | 0.5 | 800 |
| PBR: Caterpillar Classic | 4/21 | CBS | 2:00-3:00pm | 0.6 | n/a |
| Heads-Up Poker Championship | 4/20 | NBC | 2:00-4:00pm | 0.5 | 765 |
American Le Mans Series:
Long Beach | 4/21 | ABC | 1:00-3:00pm | 0.5 | 710 |
| AMA Supercross | 4/21 | CBS | 1:00-2:00pm | 0.5 | n/a |
| Lucas Oil Off Road Pro4 & Pro2 | 4/20 | CBS | 1:00-2:00pm | 0.4 | n/a |
| "Final Four: Behind The Scenes" | 4/20 | CBS | 2:00-3:00pm | 0.3 | n/a |
| Laureus World Sports Awards | 4/21 | NBC | 2:00-3:00pm | 0.3 | 441 |
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
NBA Eastern Conference
First Round: Bucks-Heat: Game 1 | 4/21 | TNT | 7:10-9:44pm | 3.0 | 4,902 |
NBA Western Conference First
Round: Rockets-Thunder: Game 1 | 4/21 | TNT | 9:44pm-12:20am | 2.8 | 4,276 |
NBA Western Conference First
Round: Grizzlies-Clippers: Game 1 | 4/20 | ESPN | 10:43pm-1:21am | 2.1 | 3,304 |
NBA Eastern Conference
First Round: Bulls-Nets: Game 1 | 4/20 | ESPN | 8:11-10:34pm | 2.1 | 3,287 |
NBA Western Conference First
Round: Warriors-Nuggets: Game 1 | 4/20 | ESPN | 5:30-8:11pm | 1.9 | 2,818 |
| NBA: Rockets-Lakers | 4/17 | ESPN | 10:34pm-1:27am | 1.7 | 2,482 |
NBA Eastern Conference
First Round: Hawks-Pacers: Game 1 | 4/21 | TNT | 1:09-3:45pm | 1.5 | 2,205 |
| NBA: Jazz-Grizzlies | 4/17 | ESPN | 8:05-10:34pm | 1.1 | 1,615 |
| MLB: Cardinals-Phillies | 4/21 | ESPN | 8:00-11:38pm | 1.0 | 1,551 |
| Boxing: Canelo Alvarez-Austin Trout | 4/20 | Show | 11:09pm-12:00am | 0.6 | 1,061 |
