Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Ratings Roundup: 2021 WNBA Regular Season Experiences 49% Increase; NHL Debuts on ESPN, TNT to Positive Numbers

22/10/2021

Ratings Roundup: 2021 WNBA Regular Season Experiences 49% Increase; NHL Debuts on ESPN, TNT to Positive Numbers By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor

Friday, October 22, 2021 - 6:32 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

Ratings roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, WNBA Finals Sees 49% increase, ESPN's NBA coverage opens big, ESPN's NFL studio shows are way up, Paramount draws big audiences for NFL and college football, ESPN's Monday Night Football and NFL on Fox both continue to show viewership growth over last year, TBS and Fox's LDS coverage gets a boost, and the debut of the NHL on TNT and ESPN drew record numbers.

The 2021 WNBA Finals on ESPN networks and ABC - Chicago Sky victory over the Phoenix Mercury - averaged 548,000 viewers across four games, a 23 percent increase from 2020 (447,000 average viewers in three games) and a 42 percent surge from 2019 (386,000 average viewers in five games). The 2021 Finals are the most viewed since the 2017 Finals between the LA Sparks and the Minnesota Lynx, which registered 563,000 viewers. (ESPN)

The New York Knicks thrilling double overtime victory over the Boston Celtics was ESPN's most-watched Wednesday season-opening game in 18 years, according to Nielsen. The telecast averaged 1.96 million viewers, peaking with 2.87 million viewers from 10:30-10:45 p.m. ET. Overall, last night was ESPN's most-watched season-opening doubleheader since 2017. The doubleheader, which included Knicks vs. Celtics and Phoenix Suns vs. Denver Nuggets, averaged 1.74 million viewers. This is up 39 percent vs. 2020, up 10 percent vs. 2019 and up 22 percent vs. 2018. (ESPN)

ESPN's NFL studio shows Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night Countdown, NFL Live, and NFL Rewind are experiencing year-over-year audience growth and delivering significant increases in key demos, including persons 18-24. The added audience for the studio shows, which span every day of the week except for Saturday, add to the success of ESPN's overall NFL portfolio, which includes Monday Night Football's significant audience growth and Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli garnering record audiences for alternate telecasts. (ESPN)

Paramount , featuring live NFL ON CBS local market games, scored an NFL regular-season viewership record for total streams, minutes streamed and unique viewers. Additionally, Sunday's Dallas Cowboys vs. New England Patriots game was the most-streamed NFL regular-season contest ever on the service, surpassing the Dallas-LA Chargers matchup in Week 2. Through Week 6 of the NFL season, Paramount has seen double-digit growth in total streams, streaming minutes and unique viewers compared to the first six weeks of the 2020 season. (CBS Sports)

Paramount , featuring live SEC on CBS games, scored triple-digit growth in total streams and minutes streamed for Saturday's Georgia-Kentucky game when compared to the 2019 LSU-Mississippi State game, the most recent game in the comparable window. (CBS Sports)

ESPN's Monday Night Football experienced year-over-year gains for the fourth consecutive week (Weeks 3 through 6), as 12.6 million viewers (ESPN and ESPN Deportes) watched the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans (October 18, 8 p.m. ET). The Bills-Titans audience 12,528,000 (ESPN only) was up 6% over the Dallas Cowboys' Week 6 appearance in 2020, when they hosted the Cardinals (11,831,000 viewers), and also is second-most-viewed Week 6 game since the 2015 season. (ESPN)

This week's NFL on Fox singleheader delivered year-over-year ratings growth. (Fox Sports)

The NLDS presented by Good Sam Game 5 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants averaged 6.5 million total viewers to deliver the most watched LDS telecast this postseason and the best NLDS game telecast on the network since 2017 (NLDS Game 5 - Cubs vs. Nationals). Dodgers/Giants NLDS Game 5 is up 75% over last year's LDS Game 5 (Yankees/Rays) on TBS. (Turner Sports)

TNT's first-ever NHL regular season telecast - the New York Rangers facing the Washington Capitals (7:40-10:14 p.m. ET) - is the most-watched game to ever air on the second night of nationally televised NHL coverage, among total viewers and all key adult and male demos. That makes it the largest audience for the second night of nationally televised NHL regular season action in the nearly 30 years on record. (TBS Sports)

The 2021 NHL FaceOff doubleheader marked the return of the NHL to the ESPN networks for the first time since 2004 and set a new high-water mark as the most-viewed NHL season-opening doubleheader on record. Combined, the NHL Faceoff doubleheader on ESPN averaged 884,000 viewers on ESPN over the more than five-hour window, which is up 54 percent over the 2019-20 season-opening doubleheader and up 19 percent over the 2020-21 season-opening tripleheader. It also topped the 2018 season-opening doubleheader by 81 percent. Among viewers 18-49, the doubleheader is up 28 percent vs the 2020-21 season-opening tripleheader, and up 56 percent and 74 percent respectively vs the 2019 and 2018 opening doubleheaders. (ESPN)

Fox's ALDS elimination game between the Astros and White Sox drew 1.8 million viewers across FS1, FOX Deportes and FOX Sports streaming services. (Fox Sports)
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/10/22/ratings-roundup-2021-wnba-regul...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

07/04/2026

NAB 2026: Ikegami USA To Launch Two New Viewfinders, Refine UHD Cameras

Ikegami USA will launch a refinement to the UHK-X700 and UHK-X750 3-CMOS -in. UHD cameras in the UNICAM XE series plus two new 7-in. viewfinders at NAB 2026 in...

07/04/2026

NAB 2026: NAB Leadership Foundation to Host Technology Students Career Mixer

The NAB Leadership Foundation and NAB PILOT will host a career mixer for technology students at NAB Show 2026 on April 18, 5-6:30 p.m., North Hall, Room N225/22...

07/04/2026

Survey: AVoIP Adoption Accelerating, With Interoperability and Security as Key Drivers

Audinate Group Limited and Futuresource Consulting have published results from a...

07/04/2026

NAB 2026: Eluvio Announces Commercial Availability of Content Fabric Bucharest Release

Eluvio has announced the commercial availability of its Content Fabric Bucharest...

07/04/2026

NAB 2026: Eluvio Introduces Inline AI Video Intelligence and Updated EVIE

Eluvio has unveiled a new architecture for video AI and an updated Eluvio Video Intelligence Editor (EVIE) ahead of NAB Show 2026. Eluvio AI runs analysis and i...

07/04/2026

Professional Fighters League Partners With Sky New Zealand for Exclusive Broadcast Rights

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) has announced a deal with Sky New Zealand...

07/04/2026

NBA, Enjoy Basketball' To Produce Live Game Altcast, Enjoy the NBA Trivia Show as Part of New Multi-Platform Collab

The NBA and Enjoy Basketball, the digital media company co-founded by YouTube cr...

07/04/2026

Beyond Golf: PGA of America, Ko-Mar Productions Offer Clients a Customizable Production Studio

The 4,000-sq.-ft. space in Frisco, TX, has produced live and packaged programmin...

07/04/2026

A New POV: RefCam's Rise in the Bundesliga Signals a Potential New Era for Soccer Broadcasts

What began as a referee training tool is evolving into a powerful production ass...

07/04/2026

NAB 2026: Manifold Technologies to Join NEP Platform as Deployable Application

Manifold Technologies will announce at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C.1808) that its manifold CLOUD platform will be available as a deployable application within NEP Pl...

07/04/2026

Shaquille O'Neal and TNT Sports to Launch DUNKMAN Professional Dunk League in Summer 2026

Shaquille O'Neal, Authentic Brands Group, and TNT Sports, in partnership wit...

07/04/2026

NAB 2026: Telos Alliance Unveils Omnia XII Audio Processor

Telos Alliance will debut the Omnia XII, a new FM/HD/DAB audio processor, at NAB Show 2026 in Las Vegas. Built on a 2RU hardware platform, Omnia XII features a...

07/04/2026

NAB 2026: AWS to Showcase AI and Cloud Media Technologies

Amazon Web Services (AWS) will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (April 18-22, Las Vegas Convention Center, Booth W1701), with demonstrations, speaking sessions, and int...

07/04/2026

NAB 2026: Synamedia to Demonstrate AI by Quortex

Synamedia will demonstrate AI by Quortex at NAB Show 2026, a framework that applies AI capabilities to video workflows on demand rather than continuously. The s...

07/04/2026

NAB 2026: TVNewsCheck Announces 2026 Women in Technology Award Honorees

TVNewsCheck will present its 15th annual Women in Technology Awards on Tuesday, April 21, at 5 p.m. PT at NAB Show, in the Media and Entertainment Theater (W146...

07/04/2026

NAB 2026: Akta to Showcase AI Video Platform

Akta will demonstrate its AI video platform at NAB Show 2026, highlighting new capabilities in media processing and vertical video formatting alongside its exis...

07/04/2026

ESPN Expands to Disney+ in Europe and Select Asia-Pacific Markets

ESPN and Disney have announced the launch of ESPN on Disney in Europe and select Asia-Pacific markets, bringing the offering to 53 countries and territories a...

07/04/2026

Announcing the 2026 Sundance Institute Native Lab Fellows

LOS ANGELES, CA, April 7, 2026 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the fellows selected for the 2026 Native Lab, the signature initiative of the ...

07/04/2026

Prompted Playlist Levels Up to Include Podcasts, Helping You Explore More Interests and Curiosities

Starting today, Prompted Playlist is expanding beyond music to now include podca...

07/04/2026

VSL release Synchron Harpsichord (Blanchet)

Launched alongside piano promotion The latest instalment in VSL's Synchron Series line-up captures the sound of a faithful copy of a Fran ois tienne Bl...

07/04/2026

Roland announce SPD-SX Pro Version 2.0

Flagship sampling pad gets an update Roland's flagship sampling pad has just received a major update that kits it out with an array of new features and ...

07/04/2026

Sound Devices unveil the Astral Mini Plus

Popular compact wireless system upgraded Sound Devices have recently introduced a new and improved version of their compact wireless transmitter bodypacks, ...

07/04/2026

YEP November 2025 Newsletter

The November 2025 YEP Newsletter highlights a recent YEP Coffee Chat, offering members the chance to connect with industry professionals in an informal setting ...

07/04/2026

YEP December 2025 Newsletter

The December 2025 YEP Newsletter includes a Spotlight on Emily Vail, showcasing her career journey and work in the industry, alongside Mentorship Reflections by...

07/04/2026

US Space Force Selects L3Harris to Strengthen America's Defense with Advanced Space Surveillance

Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) telescope operated...

07/04/2026

Haivision Unveils Makito ONE Live Video Contribution Platform

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/04/2026

Neutrik To Unveil TRUE1 Data Connector Series At 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/04/2026

Chris Welcker Deployed Full DPA Arsenal to Record Live Mu...

Catgut Sound Owner and Production Sound Mixer Chris Welcker, CAS, has built a career at the intersection of music and film. A former musician and composer, Welc...

07/04/2026

SDVI Launches Next Generation Rally Platform to Give Medi...

SDVI Corporation today announced the next generation of its Rally media supply chain management platform, introducing a redesigned orchestration engine that rep...

07/04/2026

Avid to Debut Avid Content Core on AWS at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/04/2026

Frequency Launches Smarter Ways to Operate Streaming Chan...

Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's leading streaming television channels, at NAB 2026 will be launching new Studio services to help content ow...

07/04/2026

Ikegami to Introduce Expanded Range of Broadcast Producti...

Ikegami USA has chosen NAB 2026 in Las Vegas as the launch platform for new additions to its range of broadcast-quality television production equipment. These w...

07/04/2026

Kiloview Advancing Broadcast IP Workflows with a Smarter...

April 19, 2026, Las Vegas Kiloview, an innovative provider of AV-over-IP technologies, will showcase its latest broadcast IP solutions at NAB 2026, presenting...

07/04/2026

Bitmovin Adds Support for SGAI in its Playback Products t...

Bitmovin has announced support for Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI) across its playback products using HLS interstitials, enabling more advanced ad-supported s...

07/04/2026

Synamedia unveils AI by Quortex - a just-in-time AI-plugi...

Synamedia is unveiling AI by Quortex at The NAB show, a just-in-time AI plugin framework that applies intelligence only when needed across video processing, dis...

07/04/2026

Cuez Brings Four New Innovations to NAB 2026 From Story-C...

Cuez will showcase four additions to its cloud-based newsroom, rundown and automation platform at NAB Show 2026 (April 18 22, Las Vegas, Booth N1867): Cuez ...

07/04/2026

Barix Extends Transport Options for Multi-Engine IP Encoder

Barix Extends Transport Options for Multi-Engine IP Encoder Brie Clayton April 7, 2026 0 Comments New for NAB, Barix adds SRT and RIST support to Mult...

07/04/2026

Elite Media Technologies Selects Interra Systems' BATON File-Based QC Solution

Elite Media Technologies Selects Interra Systems' BATON File-Based QC Soluti...

07/04/2026

Tightrope Media Systems to Debut Cablecast LiveBridge for Simultaneous Streaming at NAB 2026

Tightrope Media Systems to Debut Cablecast LiveBridge for Simultaneous Streaming...

07/04/2026

Cuez Brings Four New Innovations to NAB 2026: From Story-Centric Newsroom to Open AI Agent Framework

Cuez Brings Four New Innovations to NAB 2026: From Story-Centric Newsroom to Ope...

07/04/2026

ASG Names Andrea Cummis VP of Systems Engineering

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/04/2026

KTVJ Completes Major Signal Upgrade

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/04/2026

Hearst's WDSU to Air Million Dollar Rodeo Competition

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/04/2026

Grass Valley Launches Future Playmakers Program

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/04/2026

Saranyu Technologies Launches MATCH - Multi-View Sports S...

Designed for synchronized multi-stream playback, low-latency delivery, and real-time analytics, MATCH introduces a unified viewing experience for sports broadca...