ABC heads into Warriors-Cavaliers Game 4 on Friday night averaging 19.51 million viewers, marking its most-viewed NBA Finals on record through three games and the best for any NBA Finals since NBC’s coverage of Bulls-Jazz in ’98. The 19.51 million viewers is up from 17.7 million viewers at the same point last year, and up from 18.5 million viewers two years ago. Game 3 on Wednesday night finished with 20.05 million viewers, up from 16.47 million viewers for the same matchup last year, and up from 18.77 million viewers in ’15, when the game aired on a Tuesday night.
SOONER OR LATER: ESPN averaged 1.67 million viewers for Oklahoma’s two-game sweep of Florida in the Women’s College World Series final on Monday and Tuesday night,, up 24% from 1.34 million viewers for OU’s three-game win over Auburn last year. It is well below the record 1.91 million viewers for UF’s three-game win over Michigan in ’15. While the TV audience was down, the Finals set new WCWS streaming records. The marathon 17-inning WCWS Finals Game 1, the longest game in event history, saw more than 662,000 total users stream 15 million total minutes, marking the highest ever for a WCWS Game. The second game had over 406,000 total users streaming nearly 7 million minutes, the second-best ever for a WCWS game.
THE REAL WORLD: Fox drew 1.76 million viewers for Real Madrid’s win over Juventus in the final of the UEFA Champions League. That figure is up from Real Madrid-Atletico Madrid last year (1.68 million), but down from FC Barcelona-Juventus two years ago (2.2 million). Real Madrid’s win over Atletico in ’14 drew 1.92 million viewers. Meanwhile, Fox Deportes drew another 1.24 million viewers for Real Madrid-Juventus on Saturday., down from 1.3 million viewers on ESPN Deportes last year, and down from 1.45 million viewers on Fox Deportes two years ago.
The chart below lists final audience figures from select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
NBA Finals: Cavaliers-Warriors:
Game 2 |
6/4
|
ABC
|
7:59-10:42pm
|
10.7
|
19,686
|
NBA Finals: Cavaliers-Warriors:
Game 1 |
6/1
|
ABC
|
8:59-11:40pm
|
10.5
|
18,698
|
NHL Stanley Cup Final:
Predators-Penguins: Game 1 |
5/29
|
NBC
|
8:11-11:04pm
|
2.8
|
4,855
|
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup
Series: AAA 400 (Dover) |
6/4
|
FS1
|
1:00-5:23pm
|
2.1
|
3,356
|
NHL Stanley Cup Final:
Predators-Penguins: Game 2 |
5/31
|
NBCSN
|
8:09-11:13pm
|
1.8
|
3,181
|
NHL Stanley Cup Final:
Penguins-Predators: Game 3 |
6/3
|
NBCSN
|
8:09-11:09pm
|
1.6
|
2,953
|
PGA Tour: The Memorial:
Final Round* |
6/4
|
CBS
|
2:30-3:15pm;
5:30-7:00pm
|
1.9
|
2,798
|
PGA Tour: The Memorial:
Third Round |
6/3
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.4
|
2,101
|
| MLB: (regional) |
6/3
|
Fox
|
7:12-10:15pm
|
1.3
|
2,084
|
| MLB: Cardinals-Cubs |
6/4
|
ESPN
|
7:30-10:43pm
|
1.1
|
1,784
|
UEFA Champions League final:
Real Madrid-Juventus |
6/3
|
Fox
|
2:30-5:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,762
|
| Soccer friendly: Mexico-Ireland |
6/1
|
UniMas
|
8:15-10:30pm
|
0.8
|
1,505
|
UEFA Champions League final:
Real Madrid-Juventus |
6/3
|
Fox Deportes
|
2:20-4:50pm
|
n/a
|
1,241
|
Women's College World Series:
Bracket Play: Oklahoma-Oregon |
6/4
|
ESPN
|
3:46-5:58pm
|
0.8
|
1,231
|
| French Open: Fourth Round |
6/4
|
NBC
|
12:00-3:00pm
|
0.9
|
1,212
|
NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing
Series: New England Nationals |
6/4
|
FS1
|
5:23-7:30pm
|
0.7
|
1,179
|
| "NBA Countdown" |
6/1
|
ESPN
|
8:00-8:30pm
|
n/a
|
1,081
|
NASCAR Xfinity Series:
OneMain Financial 200 (Dover) |
6/3
|
FS1
|
1:00-3:21pm
|
0.7
|
1,009
|
Women's College World Series:
Bracket Play: Washington-UCLA |
6/3
|
ESPN
|
7:37-9:49pm
|
0.6
|
953
|
Verizon IndyCar Series:
Detroit Grand Prix: Race 2 |
6/4
|
ABC
|
3:30-6:00pm
|
0.6
|
918
|
Verizon IndyCar Series:
Detroit Grand Prix: Race 1 |
6/3
|
ABC
|
3:30-6:00pm
|
0.6
|
847
|
| French Open: Third Round |
6/3
|
NBC
|
12:00-3:00pm
|
0.6
|
847
|
| Soccer friendly: U.S.-Venezuela |
6/3
|
Univision
|
9:52pm-12:05am
|
0.5
|
838
|
| Red Bull Global Rallycross (taped) |
6/4
|
NBC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
591
|
"World of X Games:
Street League Skateboarding" |
6/3
|
ABC
|
2:30-3:30pm
|
0.4
|
533
|
Penn Mutual Collegiate
Rugby Championship |
6/4
|
NBC
|
3:04-5:00pm
|
0.4
|
530
|
Pro Football Arm
Wrestling Championship (taped) |
6/3
|
CBS
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
525
|
| Red Bull Global Rallycross (taped) |
6/3
|
NBC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.3
|
516
|
Penn Mutual Collegiate
Rugby Championship |
6/3
|
NBC
|
3:00-5:00pm
|
0.3
|
427
|
NOTES: * = Rain delay from 3:15-5:30pm, and then again at 6:48pm. Coverage resumed at 8:05pm on Golf Channel for the last few holes.
