Sports Media Watch
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Sports media news and information. Run by Jon Lewis.
Joined May 2009
Famed broadcaster Bob Costas joined the Sports Media Watch Podcast this week in a wide-ranging interview about his career, journalism and much more.
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I noticed that Scott Hanson's catchphrase had changed to "seven hours of RedZone football" (rather than "commercial free"), then saw a Visa ad just now. Wonder how long that's been going on.
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If JJ Redick -- ESPN's youngest NBA game analyst -- works to the age Hubie Brown is now, he'll be calling games in 2073.
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Thunder-Rockets Game 7 most-watched NBA game since January 31, most-watched first round game on cable since 2018, most-watched first round game on ESPN since 2017. Five of 11 most-watched NBA games since 7/30 restart have come since suspension of play:
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How NBC thrived and ESPN failed with the NBA. A deep dive into the philosophical differences that define the NBA's two lead broadcast partners of the past 30 years: NBC, which highlighted the games and the players, versus ESPN -- which highlights itself:
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LSU-South Carolina was the most-watched sporting event of Thursday night, topping the NBA on TNT (Celtics-Heat) head-to-head:
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NBA should end the between-quarters coaches interview. Always runs over into the first play of the next quarter and it adds nothing.
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Lakers-Nuggets Game 1 most-watched conference final opener in five years, +13% from last year's WCF Game 1 on TNT (Mavericks-Warriors). Draft Lottery most-watched in four (since Zion in '19):
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Caitlin Clark and the Fever continue to drive ratings and ad revenue for the WNBA, having now played in the top 5 games since 2001. The Fever account for a third of WNBA TV ad revenue and half of the ad impressions this season, per analytics firm EDO:
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When LeBron debuted in 2003, ESPN's Magic-Knicks lead-in went into overtime and preempted pretty much the entire first quarter.
ESPN is minutes away from having to broadcast Wemby’s generational debut on The Ocho because of Isaiah Hartenstein and Kristaps Porzingis.
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Panthers-Oilers will be the first NHL/NBA/MLB championship series to go seven games since the COVID hiatus.
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Warriors-Nets second-most watched game of NBA season.-- Golden State has played in 3 of the top 5, 5 of the top 7 and 6 of the top 11 games thus far.-- TNT Tuesday night NBA viewership +54% over comparable Thursday windows in '19.
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Here is what sports viewership looks like right now:
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I'm beating a dead horse by now, but the national networks are really shortchanging the viewers when it comes to crowd noise.
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ESPN watermarked this as if anyone on earth would have any interest in stealing it.
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D'Backs-Phillies Game 7 nears nine million viewer mark, most-watched postseason game (excluding World Series) since Braves-Dodgers Game 7 in the 2020 "bubble.". LCS viewership not only finishes up from last year, but reaches five-year high:
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Here's something new: ESPN will air "WNBA Countdown" prior to WNBA playoff games. I believe that will be the first WNBA pregame show ever on any network.
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T'Wolves-Nuggets Game 7 is most-watched first or second round playoff game ever on TNT Sports (with out-of-home caveat). -- Top game of the postseason.-- Pacers-Knicks lags.-- Playoff viewership down double-digits from last year, but second-best in decade.
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ESPN's start with the NBA was rough. From 2002 until 2008ish, it did a frankly poor job. Steadily improved throughout the 2010s, but now back to square one. Every decision since the Taylor-Nichols disaster has been the wrong one. This is a rebuild, start-from-scratch scenario.
ESPN shows Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton, and. Stephen A. Smith (???) arriving at MSG for Knicks-Pacers Game 7. Is Stephen A. playing in the game?!?
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Eagles-Browns highest rated NFL preseason game on FOX since 2012, most-watched weeknight preseason game on any network (excluding HOF game) since 2014:
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Viewership trends:.NBA Finals Game 1: -45% to all-time low.Stanley Cup Final: -61% to 13-year low.U.S. Open (golf) final round: -56% to all-time low.Kentucky Derby: -43% to all-time low.Indy 500: -32% to all-time low. All of them May and June events moved to August and September.
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Even opposite the NFL, Caitlin Clark and the Fever generated yet another seven-figure audience Friday night:
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ESPN should be embarrassed about the product it on the air today, but I'm not sure there's sufficient self-awareness in Bristol for that to happen.
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Caitlin Clark's debut is the most-watched WNBA game in 23 years with 2.12 million viewers on ESPN2:
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Georgia's 60-point rout of FSU is the most-watched Orange Bowl (excluding playoff years) since 2017:
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Caitlin Clark vs. Diana Taurasi delivers another big WNBA audience. Most-watched game Taurasi has ever played in the WNBA.
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MLB All-Star Game scores viewer bump over 2019, comfortably tops NBA All-Star Game in March and most recent Pro Bowl in January of last year:
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A record 12.3 million viewers for Monday's Iowa-LSU NCAA women's Elite Eight game, the largest NCAA women's basketball audience ever measured by Nielsen. Previous high was 11.8 million for Cheryl Miller's first title game in 1983.
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Raptors-Warriors averaged 1.86 million viewers, comfortably ahead of Clippers-Rockets on TNT earlier in the night, Zion-Luka on ESPN Wednesday and the Lakers on TNT Tuesday.
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We have to reduce the moralizing on sports TV. If a player decides to play a bowl game, that's the right decision for them. If they decide to opt out, that's the right decision for them. Enough of the debate.
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Caitlin Clark's playoff debut is most-watched WNBA game ever on an NFL Sunday, and league's most-watched playoff game overall since 2000 Finals:
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Warriors-Kings is officially the ABC game Saturday night.
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FSU-Oklahoma most-watched game of bowl season thus far, followed by Washington-Texas, Oregon-UNC and Arkansas-Kansas:
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Stanford-Arizona Women's NCAA Tournament national championship is most-watched since 2014.-- Out-of-home boosts audience 12% from fast-nationals (3.6M) to finals (4.1M).-- Game is Sunday's top TV show in A18-34 and 18-49, topping ABC's "American Idol".
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Here are the ten most-watched (non-football) sporting events since 2019. Game 6 was just the sixth of these to top the ten million viewer mark:
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TNT, which dropped Magic-Knicks on 12/3 in favor of Grizzlies-Mavericks, is dropping Grizzlies-Mavericks on 12/3 in favor of Magic-Knicks.
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The level of criticism ESPN (deservedly) got for that IND-NY Game 7 has been beyond anything I can remember for a single telecast. Widespread disdain beyond the usual sports media critics (and after several days). I hope the higher-ups in Bristol have been paying close attention.
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NYP: ESPN, NFL, close to deal on strategic partnership.-- NFL would acquire a stake in ESPN.-- ESPN would assume control of NFL Network, RedZone and the rest of NFL Media.
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Ratings: final round of #TheMasters is lowest rated since 1957, declining 51% from Tiger's win last year (and 57% from 2018). Well below previous lows. Joins World Series, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Final, U.S. Open, Triple Crown in setting all-time lows.
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As late as 1985, CBS was airing NBA conference final games at 11:30 PM -- Pacific time.
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Another Friday night, another million-viewer audience for Caitlin Clark on ION. More than half of Clark's Nielsen-rated windows this season have topped the million mark. More on the Clark effect below:.
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Grizzlies' Pete Pranica will call Memphis game against Celtics for TNT Monday. TNT's Monday doubleheader (Rockets-Lakers is the nightcap) was a late addition to the schedule.
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ESPN comes back from commercial late and misses a bucket, compounded by the fact that it ran the pre-taped coaches interview *anyway*. Credit Breen for acknowledging, but this is a Game 7 from the "A" partner. When exactly are they going to raise their game in Bristol?.
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Winter Olympics ratings in record-low territory on final weekend.-- Lowest rated Closing Ceremony ever.-- Lowest rated primetime Olympic telecast ever (Saturday).
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Heated U.S.-Canada face-off delivers massive NHL audience for ABC, trailing only Game 7 of last year's Cup Final as the most-watched NHL telecast in the past two years. Excluding Cup Final, most-watched NHL telecast since 2019:
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Second meeting of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, sets new high for WNBA. Most-watched game in 23 years, surpassing Clark's debut last month.
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ESPN/ABC's NBA theme music conveys all the gravitas of a Friday game in January. Not even a good game either, something like Heat at Bulls with Jimmy Butler sitting out.
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Vanderbilt-Michigan scores largest CWS Game 3 audience since 2014; also third-largest CWS audience overall since 2014. Most-watched baseball or softball game on ESPN this year, topping Red Sox-Yankees:
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I will note that NHL viewership is down so far this season more than the NBA and I don't think there's a soul in hockey suggesting big changes to the way the game is played or scheduled. I'm not 100% sure anyone in hockey even knows the ratings are down so much.
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Olympic break does nothing to slow Caitlin Clark ratings train. More than two million for Storm-Fever on ABC Sunday:
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TNT to license "Inside the NBA" to ESPN and ABC starting next season, per Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal. Separately, WBD and NBA settle lawsuit, with WBD to continue operating NBA TV:
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Caitlin Clark and the Fever helped yet another network to a viewership record Wednesday night. WNBA games have set network records 11 times this season, with Clark and the Fever involved in ten.
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Caitlin Clark remans the WNBA's biggest draw, but the rest of the league is attracting audiences not seen in years -- including 1M for Mercury-Sun on ABC Sunday. Three games hit the million mark over the weekend, with the other two featuring Clark:
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Iowa-SC averages 5.5M viewers on ESPN (fast-nationals).-- Most-watched women's national semifinal on record.-- Most-watched women's tournament game since '04.-- Most-watched CBB game on ESPN (men or women) since '08.
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Here are the ten most-watched (non-football) sporting events since sports went on hiatus in March of last year:
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Warriors were the most-watched team on national TV, averaging 2.8M over 30 games (not including NBA TV). Cavs 2nd, Knicks 5th, Pacers last.
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Have to give ESPN/ABC credit. Has to be the most extensive post-SCF celebration coverage ever on network TV. Fully preempted 11 PM ET newscasts and still going.
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Kings-Warriors continues to lead NBA playoff viewership:
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"NBC Sports will be just fine" -- smash cut to NBC carrying Arena Football games as its primary spring sports programming.
If NBC wins NBA rights, it'll be because of WBD's austerity the last few years. So a reminder of why NBC lost NBA in the first place:. "If winning the rights to a property brings with it hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, what have you won?," NBC Sports boss said in 2002.
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Another viewership record for Caitlin Clark as Iowa's first round matchup with Holy Cross tops 3.2 million viewers on ABC. Largest women's tournament audience prior to the Final Four:
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400% of all "Bones" viewership comes in the two minutes before the NBA on TNT starts.
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NBA All-Star Game ratings, viewership *easily* the lowest ever. Plus:.-- All-Star Saturday Night and Rising Stars also down to new lows.-- Celebrity Game bucks trend of record-lows with an actual increase over last year.
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Championship matchups in 2023:.-- Rangers-D'Backs.-- Heat-Nuggets.-- Golden Knights-Panthers.-- UConn-SDSU. Just in case you were ever wondering if sports are rigged for TV ratings purposes.
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Caitlin Clark's final regular season game obliterates viewership mark with 3.3 million:.-- Tops Celtics' rout of Warriors on same day.-- Trails only NASCAR Cup Series (Vegas) as top sportscast of weekend:
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Michigan-Washington is most-watched CFP National Championship in four years, up 45% from last year. Second-most watched game of season (Rose Bowl #1), marking third time in four years that the national title game averaged fewer viewers than a semifinal:
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Curry's return boosts NBA on TNT.-- Network's tenth-most watched game all season.-- Also its most-watched game since December that did not involve the Lakers.
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Instead of two Boston-New York Eastern Conference finals, ESPN/ABC will get none.
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WNBA hits viewership highs on three different networks over the holiday weekend -- ION, NBA TV and CBS -- and not solely due to Caitlin Clark:
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NBA Christmas ratings history. Top Christmas games dating back to 2001:.-- Heat-Lakers in 2004.-- Heat-Lakers in 2010.-- Cavs-Warriors in 2015.-- Bulls-Lakers in 2011.
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I guarantee this was already happening in scores and scores and scores of homes around the country -- for decades.
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Nearly five million viewers watch Caitlin Clark, Iowa, escape against West Virginia -- easily the largest audience on record prior to the Women's Final Four. Viewership is up sixfold over last year, and other games are up big as well:
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Another seven figure audience for Caitlin Clark Monday night. Her three games on Nielsen-rated TV (ESPN/ABC) this season have each hit the million viewer mark.
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Beyond everything else, Saturday's game will be the Kings' first primetime game on ABC since Christmas Day 2002 at the Lakers. That was ABC's first night of NBA coverage under the current TV deal.
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A re-air of Kobe's final game, which took place nearly four years ago, was Monday's most-watched sports program and averaged more than a million viewers.
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ABC will air Monday Night Football every week for the rest of the season due to the writers and actors strikes, per a report. (The games will still air on ESPN as well.)
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Been a *long time* since I couldn't get a rating from NBA PR upon request. This explains why.
ABC drew 9.62 million viewers for the Mavericks' throttling of the Celtics on Friday night. That looks to be the 2nd-lowest NBA Finals Game 4 on record, behind only the pandemic bubble, when Game 4 of Lakers-Heat drew 7.54 million (that also aired in October).
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Florida-Edmonton is obviously bad for ABC, but I don't necessarily think it's bad for the NHL.
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We're close to peak ESPN -- Boston vs. New York in the NBA and NHL Eastern Conference Finals, every single night for potentially two weeks, exclusively on the ESPN networks. No Red Sox-Yankees games during that period, as that would perhaps be too much even for ESPN.
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Pacers-Knicks Game 7 opens:.2024, ESPN: Stephen A. yelling alongside Spike Lee.1995, NBC: 90-seconds of Marv Albert laying out the stakes for both teams.
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I really do wonder what the deal is with ABC and sports overrun. CBS is more than willing to have live sports push back *60 Minutes* and ABC is out there protecting "America's Funniest Home Videos." It just makes no sense.
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WNBA tops million viewer mark yet again, and in a rarity Caitlin Clark and the Fever were not involved. -- Defending champ Aces' win over Angel Reese-led Sky is 20th game to top 1M this season. -- Meanwhile, Clark lifts NBA TV to yet another new record:
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It took nearly 20 years and poaching a finished product from FOX, but I would say ESPN has finally nailed Monday Night Football. Final piece was Van Pelt. Kolber got a truly raw deal and deserved better for the work she put in, but Van Pelt is the perfect emcee for this.
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Ratings: #NBAFinals opens with its smallest audience ever. Viewership -45% from last year's Game 1 and -58% from Cavs-Warriors Game 1 in 2018. Behind Lakers-Clippers (Christmas) as top game of season and barely ahead of last year's Game 1 -- of the WCF:.
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TNT gets LeBron James' record-breaking basket (Brian Anderson on pxp) and Alex Ovechkin's record-breaking goal (Kenny Albert on pxp). Also got Stephen Curry's record-breaking three (also Brian Anderson).
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TBS' Brian Anderson finishes a long baseball season tonight and will take a well-earned one-day vacation before working Sixers-Bucks for TNT Thursday.
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One of the great moments in CBS Sports history, on TBS.
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Whenever an athlete of the past dies, ESPN does its best work. It's like a little window into the ESPN of old. There's an appetite for the kind of historical perspective ESPN brings in these scenarios, the problem is that it's largely concentrated in the 35+ demo.
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Noted this in '22 as well, but I think NBC would have been long off the air by now. Would have moved the rest of the postgame coverage to NBCSN.
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Probably an Emmy-quality broadcast by FOX tonight. Hard to think of an area in which they came up short, from the pregame through the game.
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ESPN at this point has to move whatever NHL game is set for May 14 -- would probably be a second round Game 5 -- to ESPN2 in favor of Clark's WNBA debut. Just from a ratings perspective, it's highly likely the WNBA game will draw a bigger number in that slot.
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Idea: NFL goes with three Sunday games in Divisional Round, freeing up a Saturday window for the CFP National Championship. Can be an ESPN/ABC doubleheader with a Divisional Round game leading into CFP, or vice versa.
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NFL Draft opening round delivers second-largest audience ever, behind only last year. Comfortably tops last Sunday's Oscars:
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Ernie Johnson signs off saying next season is going to be "a blast" -- Barkley jokes in response, "did you say blast or last?".
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TNT, ESPN, officially announce "Inside the NBA" deal:.-- TNT studio show to air on ESPN/ABC for Opening Week, Christmas, ABC games (after Jan. 1) and throughout playoffs, including NBA Finals.-- ESPN "NBA Countdown" to continue.
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Joe Buck returning to MLB for first time since leaving FOX. Will call a Cardinals game alongside Chip Caray next week:
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Super Bowl ratings declined in adults 18-49 for the ninth-straight year. Adults under 50 continue to make up a dwindling share of the audience -- 37% this year, compared to 43% four years ago and 51% in 2008.
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It's an unpopular suggestion -- deeply unpopular -- but I think all indications are that there is an appetite for more bowls. I think you could get away with 4-5 more bowls at minimum. I don't really think there's a limit to the amount of college football people want to watch.
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Sunday's LSU-Iowa women's national championship averaged 9.9M viewers (fast-nationals), easily a record. -- Outdrew all of last year's NBA and MLB playoff games (**excluding the NBA Finals and World Series**).-- Nearly matched January's Rose Bowl (10.2M).
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