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

09/11/2025

Dalet Unveils Agentic AI Media Workflows at IBC2025

Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...

14/10/2025

Tiny toys, big missions: Knee High Spies launches on ABC this November

14 10 2025 - Media release Tiny toys, big missions: Knee High Spies launches on ABC this November Knee High Spies Kids, assemble! The ABC and Screen Australi...

14/10/2025

Imelda May: Amhrin na nGael

Imelda May explores her relationship with the Irish language through songs and sean-n s singing Friday 17 October, 8.30pm on RT One and RT Player Watch tr...

14/10/2025

NVIDIA and Oracle to Accelerate Enterprise AI and Data Processing

AI is transforming the way enterprises build, deploy and scale intelligent applications. As demand surges for enterprise-grade AI applications that offer speed,...

14/10/2025

Oracle and NVIDIA Accelerate Sovereign AI, Enabling Abu Dhabi's AI-Native Government Transformation

At Oracle AI World, NVIDIA and Oracle announced they are deepening their collabo...

13/10/2025

Spectrum Brings Selected L.A. Lakers Games to Apple Vision Pro With New Immersive Presentation

Spectrum Brings Selected L.A. Lakers Games to Apple Vision Pro With New Immersiv...

13/10/2025

Media Climate Accord Aims to Offer United Approach to M&E Industry Sustainability Efforts

Media Climate Accord aims to offer united approach to M&E industry sustainabilit...

13/10/2025

Riot Games Streamlines Production of Valorant Champions Paris with ST 2110 Flypack

Riot Games streamlines production of Valorant Champions Paris with ST 2110 flypa...

13/10/2025

Feeling the NRG: Riot Games Puts on a Show for Valorant Champions Paris Final

Feeling the NRG: Riot Games puts on a show for Valorant Champions Paris final By Jo Ruddock Monday, October 13, 2025 - 09:17 Print This Story After more t...

13/10/2025

FOX Sports MLB Postseason Audio Aims To Make Officials' Calls More Accurate

FOX Sports MLB Postseason Audio Aims To Make Officials' Calls More AccurateA1 Joe Carpenter hopes to bring some baseball CSI' to the ABS ump-cam system...

13/10/2025

New SBS and NITV Original RECKLESS a Deadly Funny Thriller Straight Out of Freo - Premieres Wednesday November 12 at 8:30pm

New SBS and NITV Original RECKLESS a Deadly Funny Thriller Straight Out of Fre...

13/10/2025

Mid-Atlantic Sports Network strikes all-IP video distribu...

Regional sports network moves from satellite to IP to cut distribution costs by more than half and streamline broadcast and direct-to-consumer delivery Mid-Atl...

13/10/2025

Delta Live invests in the future of live sound for presti...

Delta Live, the award-winning audio supplier, has underlined its position at the forefront of live sound with significant investments in cutting edge audio syst...

13/10/2025

Elon Musk Gets Just-Launched NVIDIA DGX Spark: Petaflop AI Supercomputer Lands at SpaceX

The next AI revolution starts where rockets launch. NVIDIA DGX Spark's first...

13/10/2025

Space42 Expands Access to Geospatial Intelligence with Launch of GIQ on Microsoft Azure

Abu Dhabi, UAE October 13, 2025: Space42 (ADX: SPACE42), the UAE-based AI-powe...

13/10/2025

Nick Blood and Saffron Hocking lead casting for Hit Point

Nick Blood and Saffron Hocking lead casting for Hit Point, brand new original drama series for U and U&Dave Developed & Produced by Urban Myth Films (a STUDIOC...

13/10/2025

Sky exclusively picks up Crystal Lake, the highly anticipated prequel to the Friday the 13th franchise

The series from A24 will land in the UK & Ireland in 2026Monday 13 October 2025 ...

13/10/2025

Grand Galaxy Hotel' Open for Business: Netflix Confirms Production and Cast

Back to All News Grand Galaxy Hotel' Open for Business: Netflix Confirms Production and Cast Entertainment 13 October 2025 GlobalSouth Korea Link copi...

13/10/2025

Netflix Partners with GOBELINS Paris and Guillermo del Toro to Ignite the Future of Stop-Motion Animation

Back to All News Netflix Partners with GOBELINS Paris and Guillermo del Toro to...

13/10/2025

Stories Set to Thrill, Move, and Entertain: Netflix Announces Six Tamil and Telugu Originals

Back to All News Stories Set to Thrill, Move, and Entertain: Netflix Announces ...

13/10/2025

Fox Corporation Executives to Discuss First Quarter Fiscal 2026 Financial Results Via Webcast

Fox Corporation Executives to Discuss First Quarter Fiscal 2026 Financial Result...

13/10/2025

NVIDIA, Partners Drive Next-Gen Efficient Gigawatt AI Factories in Buildup for Vera Rubin

At the OCP Global Summit, NVIDIA is offering a glimpse into the future of gigawa...

13/10/2025

Dark crime comedy drama Obituary returns to RT for a second season

Season 2 brings murder and West of Ireland humour - and rain - to our screens, with M ir ad Tyers joining the cast Watch trailer here. A small-town obituary w...

13/10/2025

RT to air live in-depth interviews with Presidential candidates

The Katie Hannon Interview Live airs tonight & Wednesday night at 7pm As part of RT 's comprehensive election campaign coverage, journalist Katie Hannon w...

11/10/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: TAB M Solutions' Joe Wire, Kevin Tucker on Guiding Clients in Control Room Builds

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: TAB M Solutions' Joe Wire, Kevin Tucker on Guidin...

11/10/2025

Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Bill Condon, the Writer-Director Behind Kiss of the Spider Woman

By Jessica Herndon One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Fest...

11/10/2025

Charter Launches Spectrum App Store, Inks Apple Vision Pro Deal

STAMFORD, Conn. In a move that highlights the growing importance of streaming apps on pay TV platforms, Charter Communications' Spectrum operating brand has...

11/10/2025

Netflix Launches Party Games for TVs

Netflix is expanding its video game offerings from mobile into TV by launching party games that its subscribers can play on smart TVs....

11/10/2025

Spectrum News Expands Distribution to Comcast's Xfinity TV Customers

STAMFORD, Conn. Charter Communications' Spectrum News has reached an deal with Comcast to expand distribution of its local news channels to Xfinity TV cust...

11/10/2025

Brightline Lighting AV 720 Low Voltage Control and Flex-T...

Professional podcasts are booming. They're an effective way to establish company executives as industry leaders, humanize a large organization, drill down o...

11/10/2025

Award-Winning PlayBox Neo Suite Makes US Debut at the NA...

PlayBox Neo, a leading provider of media playout and channel branding solutions, will present its PlayBox Neo Suite media platform for the first time in the U.S...

11/10/2025

FOR-A America to Show Commitment to US Broadcast Market a...

As a testament to its commitment to the broadcast market, FOR-A America will bring several popular and future-facing technologies to the NAB Show New York, runn...

11/10/2025

Profuz Digital remains at the forefront of Broadcast Inno...

European technology developer Profuz Digital reflects on another successful IBC Show in Amsterdam from 12 15 September after showcasing the latest version of ...

11/10/2025

Catch COBALT ARIA at NAB NY - Audio Monitoring Minus the...

Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of award-winning signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear initiative, is headin...

11/10/2025

Lightware UBEX powers AV-over-IP across education immersi...

Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, is at the center of a growing range of high-profile integrations with its UBEX platform. Built to deliver un...

11/10/2025

CAPER 2025 Next Stop for FOR-A Latin America and the Cari...

FOR-A Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) will bring its industry-leading signal processing, frame rate conversion and graphics playout software to CAPER 2025...

11/10/2025

Clear-Com and BNE Productions Amplify Dreamstate and Apoc...

Clear-Com is happy to announce its latest collaboration with BNE Productions, a premier production company known for delivering world-class audio for live even...

11/10/2025

Dean's List: Tommy Neblett Shares His YouTube Top Five

Dean's List: Tommy Neblett Shares His YouTube Top Five Boston Conservatory's dean of dance reveals his favorite student dance videos. By Sarah Godcher...

10/10/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: TAB M Solutions' Joe Wire, Jeff Tucker on Guiding Clients in Control Room Builds

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: TAB M Solutions' Joe Wire, Jeff Tucker on Guiding...

10/10/2025

SVG Students To Watch: Vincent Macri, Monmouth University

SVG Students To Watch: Vincent Macri, Monmouth University The Jersey local runs Camera 1 on Hawks games and is expanding into technical directing By Brandon Co...

10/10/2025

Bundesliga Spotlight: Inside the DFL's New Customizable Camera Concepts for Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 Rights Holders

Flexible budgets: Inside the DFL's new customisable camera concepts for Bund...

10/10/2025

Bundesliga Spotlight: TVN Talks Remote Production and Bells and Whistles

Facing the future: TVN on its technical services for the new Bundesliga season with remote production and all the bells and whistles By Heather McLean Monday...

10/10/2025

Frauen-Bundesliga Spotlight: Developing Broadcast Expertise and Pushing the Women's Game at the Deutscher Fuball-Bund

Evolving in-house: Developing broadcast expertise and pushing the women's ga...

10/10/2025

Frauen-Bundesliga Spotlight: The Deutscher Fuball-Bund on Pushing Production Innovation for the Rapidly Growing Women's Bundesliga

Growing the game: The Deutscher Fu ball-Bund on pushing production innovation fo...

10/10/2025

Bundesliga Spotlight: DFL Boosts Broadcaster Content Access Through Tent Pole' Match Concept

Proximity and authenticity: DFL kicks off the new football season with more broa...

10/10/2025

Spectrum Brings Select L.A. Lakers Games to Apple Vision Pro With New Immersive Presentation

Spectrum Brings Select L.A. Lakers Games to Apple Vision Pro With New Immersive ...

10/10/2025

Fairyland Delves Deeply Into the Tragedy of the AIDS Crisis

From left, Scoot McNairy, Andrew Durham, Nessa Dougherty, and Emilia Jones attend the premiere of Fairyland at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Jemal...

10/10/2025

Recognizing the Innovations Re-shaping Film & TV Right Now

By Chuck Parker, CEO of Sohonet If you work in film and television, you can feel it: anxiety is high. Budgets are tight, schedules are tighter, and AI is a c...

10/10/2025

L3Harris Supports American Rheinmetall's Next-Gen Combat Vehicle

L3Harris' WESCAM MX-Series EO/IR sensor systems have a long history of supporting complex missions in harsh environments, as seen here on a Kaplan-20 Next G...

10/10/2025

Catch COBALT ARIA at NAB NY Audio Monitoring Minus the Anxiety

Cobalt Digital Booth # 607 // Journalists: Click to visit Cobalt NAB NY 2025 Audio monitors join Cobalt's platform, including its latest routers, multiview...