ESPN drew just under 2 million viewers for its first UFC prelims on Saturday night. The telecast had a solid lead-in with Virginia-Duke. The UFC/ESPN audience was up 246% compared to the similar prelims on FS1 in late January last year.
GREEN ACRES: Golf Channel on Sunday drew 574,000 viewers for the final round of the PGA Tour Desert Classic, which saw Adam Long win by one stroke over Adam Hadwin and Phil Mickelson. Last year, Jon Rahm won what was then called the CareerBuilder Challenge in a playoff over Andrew Landry. Golf Channel drew 510,000 viewers for that telecast. Meanwhile, the LPGA began its season with the first-ever Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, which saw Eun-Hee Ji win by two strokes over fellow South Korean Mirim Lee. The final round aired on the NBC, with the net drawing 444,000 viewers up against the NFC Championship on Fox.
HARDWOOD HEROES: ESPN had a hefty dose of college hoops bluebloods on Saturday, as Michigan, Kansas, Kentucky and Duke all played on the flagship net. The heavily-hyped Virginia-Duke game in the 6:00pm ET window led the way with 3.8 million viewers. That is easily the most-watched CBB game on ESPN this season, passing Duke-Kentucky from Nov. 6 (2.8 million viewers). Earlier in the day, Kentucky-Auburn at 4:00pm drew 1.9 million viewers, while Michigan-Wisconsin (12:00pm) drew 1.7 million and Kansas-West Virginia (2:00pm) drew 1.4 million.
NOTES: ABC's first NBA Saturday primetime telecast of the '18-19 season was this past weekend, with Lakers-Rockets drawing 3.4 million viewers. That telecast, which saw LeBron James still sitting out with an injury, was down 24% from Warriors-Rockets last year in the same window....ESPN2 on Saturday night drew 512,000 viewers for Serena Williams’ win over over Dayana Yastremska in the third round of the Australian Open. The primetime telecast saw John McEnroe and Chris Evert call the match without a traditional play-by-play announcer.
The chart below lists final audience figures from select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| AFC Championship: Patriots-Chiefs |
1/20
|
CBS
|
6:41-10:15pm
|
27.5
|
53,918
|
| NFC Championship: Rams-Saints |
1/20
|
Fox
|
3:06-6:30pm
|
24.5
|
44,074
|
| College basketball: Virginia-Duke |
1/19
|
ESPN
|
6:16-8:13pm
|
2.3
|
3,764
|
| NBA: Lakers-Rockets |
1/19
|
ABC
|
8:30-11:30pm
|
2.1
|
3,388
|
| College basketball: Syracuse-Duke |
1/14
|
ESPN
|
7:00-9:23pm
|
1.3
|
2,116
|
| NBA: Thunder-76ers |
1/19
|
ABC
|
3:31-6:15pm
|
1.4
|
2,064
|
| NBA: Warriors-Clippers |
1/18
|
ESPN
|
10:51pm-1:07am
|
1.3
|
2,044
|
| UFC Fight Night prelims |
1/19
|
ESPN
|
8:13-10:01pm
|
1.2
|
1,956
|
| NBA: Lakers-Thunder |
1/17
|
TNT
|
9:39pm-12:25am
|
1.2
|
1,929
|
| College basketball: Kentucky-Auburn |
1/19
|
ESPN
|
3:59-6:16pm
|
1.2
|
1,878
|
| NBA: Raptors-Celtics |
1/16
|
ESPN
|
8:13-10:43pm
|
1.1
|
1,784
|
| NBA: Pelicans-Warriors |
1/16
|
ESPN
|
10:43pm-1:11am
|
1.1
|
1,655
|
College basketball:
Michigan-Wisconsin |
1/19
|
ESPN
|
12:00-2:00pm
|
1.1
|
1,650
|
College basketball:
Kansas-West Virginia |
1/19
|
ESPN
|
2:00-3:59pm
|
0.9
|
1,422
|
| EPL: Chelsea-Arsenal |
1/19
|
NBC
|
12:30-2:30pm
|
0.8
|
1,288
|
| NHL: Capitals-Blackhawks |
1/20
|
NBC
|
12:45-3:15pm
|
0.7
|
1,156
|
| College basketball: Indiana-Purdue |
1/19
|
Fox
|
2:00-4:15pm
|
0.7
|
1,086
|
| College basketball: Florida-Georgia |
1/19
|
CBS
|
12:00-2:15pm
|
0.7
|
1,025
|
| College basketball: UCLA-USC |
1/19
|
CBS
|
4:30-6:15pm
|
0.6
|
872
|
LPGA: Diamond Resorts Tournament
of Champions: Third Round |
1/19
|
NBC
|
3:00-5:00pm
|
0.6
|
822
|
College basketball:
Cincinnati-Wichita State |
1/19
|
CBS
|
2:15-4:30pm
|
0.5
|
812
|
| College basketball: St. John's-Butler |
1/19
|
Fox
|
4:45-6:45pm
|
0.5
|
763
|
LPGA: Diamond Resorts Tournament
of Champions: Final Round |
1/20
|
NBC
|
3:16-5:00pm
|
0.3
|
444
|
