Sunday afternoon's Pro Bowl, which started right around the time that news broke of Kobe Bryant's death, averaged 7.97 million viewers across ABC and ESPN this year (figures on Disney XD were not available at presstime). That figure is down 1% from 8.08 million on the two networks last year (excludes Disney XD audience in '19). From 3:00-6:00pm ET, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ESPN2 and NBA TV combined for an average of 7.48 million viewers as coverage centered on Bryant's passing. That audience figure is up 183% from the corresponding window on the same Sunday last year.
ICE SHOW: The NHL All-Star Game averaged around 1.7 million viewers on Saturday night, down from 1.78 million last year. The game returned to broadcast TV in '17 and has now declined in each year since then for NBC. While the audiences have remained above what NBCSN was drawing from '07-16, Saturday night's game is likely the lowest audience on record for an NHL ASG on broadcast TV. While the ASG was down, Friday night's NHL Skills Competition on NBCSN was up 36% from '19 (835,000 vs. 612,000 viewers). Last year's event had a 9:39pm ET start, while this year's event started at 8:05pm.
DUAL THREAT: Big Ten Network is averaging just over 95,000 viewers for its 11 wrestling telecasts this season to date, up 55% from last season (also 11 telecasts). Ohio State-Minnesota on Sunday night averaged 163,000 viewers, marking the bets wrestling figure of the season and fifth-best wrestling audience for BTN on record. Friday night's Penn State-Nebraska match averaged 107,000 viewers, the second-best figure this season.
The chart below lists viewership figures for select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| NFL: Pro Bowl |
1/26
|
ABC/
ESPN
|
2:59-5:38pm
|
n/a
|
7,968
|
| PGA Tour: Farmers Insurance Open: final round |
1/26
|
CBS
|
3:07-6:15pm
|
2.1
|
3,248
|
| NBA: Lakers-76ers |
1/25
|
ABC
|
8:30-11:04pm
|
1.9
|
2,990
|
| PGA Tour: Farmers Insurance Open: third round |
1/26
|
CBS
|
3:13-6:00pm
|
1.8
|
2,638
|
| U.S. Figure Skating Championships: Ladies' Free |
1/24
|
NBC
|
8:00-11:00pm
|
1.6
|
2,386
|
| NBA: Spurs-Pelicans |
1/22
|
ESPN
|
9:37pm-12:02am
|
1.6
|
2,357
|
| NBA: Celtics-Pelicans |
1/26
|
ESPN
|
6:00-8:44pm
|
1.4
|
2,240
|
| College basketball: Kentucky-Texas Tech |
1/25
|
ESPN
|
6:16-8:37pm
|
1.3
|
2,137
|
| NBA: Lakers-Celtics |
1/20
|
TNT
|
7:39-10:12pm
|
1.3
|
2,015
|
| College basketball: Maryland-Indiana |
1/26
|
CBS
|
1:00-3:15pm
|
1.2
|
1,709
|
| NHL All-Star Game |
1/25
|
NBC
|
8:00-11:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,698
|
| NBA: Lakers-Nets |
1/23
|
TNT
|
8:01-10:26pm
|
1.0
|
1,633
|
| College basketball: Baylor-Florida |
1/25
|
ESPN
|
8:37-10:13pm
|
0.8
|
1,403
|
| College basketball: Tennessee-Kansas |
1/25
|
ESPN
|
4:09-6:16pm
|
0.9
|
1,400
|
| U.S. Figure Skating Championships: Men's Free |
1/26
|
NBC
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
0.9
|
1,342
|
| NBA: Mavericks-Trail Blazers |
1/23
|
TNT
|
10:26pm-12:58am
|
0.9
|
1,312
|
| NBA: Warriors-Trail Blazers |
1/20
|
TNT
|
10:12pm-12:54am
|
0.8
|
1,207
|
PGA Tour: Farmers Insurance Open:
final round (handoff) |
1/26
|
Golf
Channel
|
12:58-2:45pm
|
0.8
|
1,161
|
| Horse racing: Pegasus World Cup Invitational |
1/25
|
NBC
|
4:30-6:00pm
|
0.8
|
1,102
|
| College basketball: Michigan State-Minnesota |
1/26
|
Fox
|
3:00-5:11pm
|
0.7
|
1,082
|
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar
Championship: Rolex 24 |
1/26
|
NBC
|
12:00-2:00pm
|
0.7
|
994
|
| U.S. Figure Skating Championships: Men's Short |
1/25
|
NBC
|
2:30-4:30pm
|
0.7
|
944
|
| College basketball: Villanova-Providence |
1/25
|
CBS
|
1:00-3:15pm
|
0.7
|
922
|
| Liga MX: Atlas-Tigres UANL |
1/25
|
Univision
|
7:55-9:59pm
|
0.5
|
920
|
| X Games Aspen |
1/25
|
ABC
|
1:00-6:00pm
|
0.6
|
856
|
| Liga MX: Pachuca-Leon |
1/25
|
Univision
|
9:59-12:00am
|
0.5
|
822
|
| College basketball: UCLA-Oregon |
1/26
|
Fox
|
5:11-7:30pm
|
0.4
|
545
|
| Red Bull Signature Series (taped) |
1/25
|
Fox
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.3
|
354
|
