During the first few months of the coronavirus pandemic, when sports had been relegated to the sidelines, it was common belief that whenever the games returned, fans would rush back to their TV sets.
The virtual NFL draft in April and five weeks of reliving ’90s NBA nostalgia led to record ratings — and that was before most major professional sports in the U.S. returned to the field.
Turns out, fans — shut out of arenas and ballparks in an attempt to keep COVID-19 at bay — really missed their favorite games at first. Many sports experienced hefty audience bumps compared to their pre-pandemic viewing levels — though comparisons are hardly apples-to-apples. But that has since cooled off some.
Major League Baseball was the first big-ticket pro league to return to play, and it did so in record-breaking fashion. The New York Yankees’ rain-shortened win over the Washington Nationals on July 23 drew more than 4 million viewers, the most-watched regular season game on any network in nine years. That strong start propped up ESPN’s overall average through the first few weeks of the season (Aug. 9) — games were pacing 29% above last year’s season average with 1.2 million viewers (across ESPN and ESPN2) and rising double-digits among virtually every demographic, including the all-important adults 18-49 group, where it was up by 57%.
But that has since leveled off, with ESPN specifically dipping below 1 million viewers through 25 games, which is pacing 12% down. Over on Fox, it’s a similar story. Despite starting out of the gate strong on July 25 — its three games that Saturday were all above its 2019 averages by double-digits — the numbers have trended downward compared to last season in the weeks since, averaging 1.9 million viewers according to Nielsen, down 19% from last year’s average.
NBC Sports saw major increases for the NHL’s return at the beginning of August for its first-ever Qualifying Round (essentially an extra playoff round). Played in dual bubble environments in Canada, the NHL staged a massive play-in competition to figure out the bottom half of its playoff field, rather than finish out its regular season. The multiple, best-of-five series drew an overall 553,000 viewers on TV and digital platforms across NBC, CNBC, USA and NBCSN. (NBC rolls up those numbers together in what it calls “Total Audience Delivery.”) That was up 39% over the pre-shutdown season average. On the NBC broadcast network, qualifying round games were up 11% (excluding the Winter Classic) from the pre-shutdown averages.
In fact, outside of the Winter Classic, the Aug. 1 Montreal Canadiens-Pittsburgh Penguins game — NBC’s first primetime matchup since restarting — was the network’s most-watched game of the season with 1.53 million viewers. The first few days of the actual Stanley Cup Playoffs were also up 11% over last year, but have since fallen back a bit to a 3% increase through the first 23 games.
NBC also saw strong numbers for its coverage of sports across the pond, posting its best Premier League season in four years (462,000 viewers on TV and digital), which returned to action back in June. A look deeper into the numbers paints a bit muddier picture: Prior to the shutdown, NBC Sports Group’s coverage was pacing ahead by 4% over last year, but it finished with a 1% gain. However, NBCSN’s weekday matches were up by 32% from pre-shutdown averages with 315,000 viewers.
As with the NHL, the NBA is airing the remainder of its season outside of its normal schedule and during a time when viewing levels are typically lower. Primetime viewership in August, among the slowest months in TV, is 19% lower than it is in April, when the league typically begins its postseason.
During the “Seeding Games” between July 30-Aug. 16, an average of 1.3 million viewers watched across TNT, ABC and ESPN. While TNT was largely even with its pre-pandemic numbers, ESPN said it was down 7% — the league was already in the middle of a tough ratings season. However, it should be noted that the NBA’s restart featured games that often aired outside of primetime and were also carried by the local market’s regional sports network, sometimes even blacked out in those markets. The majority of NBA games tip off anywhere between 7-8 p.m. local time.
TNT’s national games during the restart, which tipped off at 9 p.m. ET, drew 1.7 million, which was 30% higher than its pre-shutdown numbers.
The first day of the NBA playoffs on Aug. 17, which featured four games, got off to a sluggish start with 1.7 million viewers on ESPN, down from the 2.8 million that viewed the opening day of the 2019 NBA playoffs. Again, it should be noted that last year’s opening round played on a Saturday and featured games on ABC, whereas Monday’s games were all on ESPN.
ABC will still gladly accept the chance at airing NBA Finals games in early October while it waits for its primetime scripted series to get back behind the camera. Over the first two days of the playoffs, both primetime windows on TNT and ESPN (9 p.m. ET) were up vs last season’s comparable window.
The only other major professional sport to return was golf with the PGA Championship, which got a bump due to the fact that it, and not The Masters, was the sport’s first major in 2020. The Masters was pushed to November and the U.S. Open is set to tee off next month; the British Open was canceled outright.
ESPN, in its first year airing the tournament, drew 1.66 million viewers for its four days of coverage, which was up 35% over last year, airing on TNT. CBS’s primetime final round coverage on Aug. 9 notched 5.15 million, the most-watched golf telecast anywhere since July 2019.