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Audience Analysis: NBA Viewership Pacing Ahead Of '14-15; New Year's Six Down 19%

ESPN for its New Year’s Six bowl games averaged 11.84 million viewers, down 19% from 14.68 million last year. The 18.55 million viewers who watched Alabama-Michigan State in the New Year’s Eve CFP semifinal is down 34% from last year for the Ohio State-Alabama semifinal in primetime on New Year’s Day, and the 15.64 million viewers who watched the Clemson-Oklahoma semifinal on New Year’s Eve is off 44% from Oregon-FSU in the New Year’s Day late afternoon slot in ’15.

NEW YEAR'S SIX BOWLS ON ESPN
DATE
BOWL
MATCHUP
VIEWERS (000)
12/31/15
Peach
Houston-Florida State
5,604
12/31/15
Orange (semi)
Clemson-Oklahoma
15,640
12/31/15
Cotton (semi)
Alabama-Michigan State
18,552
1/1/16
Fiesta
Ohio State-Notre Dame
9,759
1/1/16
Rose
Stanford-Iowa
13,552
1/1/16
Sugar
Ole Miss-Oklahoma State
8,940
DATE
BOWL
MATCHUP
VIEWERS (000)
12/31/14
Peach
TCU-Ole Miss
5,013
12/31/14
Fiesta
Boise State-Arizona
7,406
12/31/14
Orange
Georgia Tech-Mississippi State
8,935
1/1/15
Cotton
Michigan State-Baylor
9,086
1/1/15
Rose (semi)
Oregon-Florida State
28,164
1/1/15
Sugar (semi)
Ohio State-Alabama
28,271
       

HARDWOOD LIFE: Combined viewership for NBA games across ESPN, ABC and TNT are pacing 15% ahead of where the league finished the ’14-15 season. ESPN is averaging 1.86 million viewers to date, up 2% from 1.82 million viewers through the Christmas Day games last season. ESPN carried all three cable Christmas games this season, whereas TNT had two last year. Meanwhile, TNT is averaging 1.7 million viewers, down from 2.0 million viewers at the same point last season. While down to date, TNT is pacing even with the net’s average for the complete ’14-15 season. ABC also saw gains for its games on Christmas. NBA TV also is seeing 306,000 average viewers per game, a 1% increase to date, fueled by the pickup of several Warriors games. The net’s primetime average this season to date also is up 5%.

The charts below list final audience figures from recent sports telecasts.Several figures for broadcast TV were delayed due to the New Year.

TELECAST
DATE
NET
TIME (ET)
RAT.
VIEWERS
(000)
"Sunday Night Football": Vikings-Packers
1/3
NBC
8:30-11:30pm
13.8
24,286
CFP Semifinal: Goodyear Cotton Bowl:
Alabama-Michigan State
12/31
ESPN
8:20-11:31pm
9.6
18,552
"Monday Night Football": Bengals-Broncos
12/28
ESPN
8:15-11:59pm
9.4
15,806
CFP Semifinal: Capital One Orange Bowl:
Clemson-Oklahoma
12/31
ESPN
4:10-8:01pm
9.1
15,640
Rose Bowl: Stanford-Iowa
1/1
ESPN
5:09-8:39pm
7.4
13,552
BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl:
Ohio State-Notre Dame
1/1
ESPN
12:56-4:41pm
5.6
9,759
Allstate Sugar Bowl:
Ole Miss-Oklahoma State
1/1
ESPN
8:39-11:58pm
5.1
8,940
Valero Alamo Bowl: TCU-Oregon
1/2
ESPN
6:52-11:02pm
4.4
7,414
AutoZone Liberty Bowl:
Arkansas-Kansas State
1/2
ESPN
3:24-6:52pm
4.4
7,049
TaxSlayer Bowl: Georgia-Penn State
1/2
ESPN
12:00-3:24pm
3.7
5,872
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl:
Houston-Florida State
12/31
ESPN
11:58am-3:54pm
3.7
5,604
Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic:
Canadiens-Bruins
1/1
NBC
1:00-4:30pm
1.6
2,775

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