Boston Sports Media Watch

Last Friday’s first game of the Bruins/Hurricanes Eastern Conference Semifinals drew a 9.5 rating for NESN.

The rating ties the network’s best Bruins rating of the 2008/09 season and is also NESN’s third highest rated Bruins broadcast in its 25 year history of covering the team.

Last night’s game two was broadcast on VERSUS, but Wednesday night’s game three will be on NESN beginning at 7:00 PM with the network’s pre-game show WB Mason Bruins Face-Off LIVE. Game 4 will also be shown live on NESN on Friday, May 8. Both games are scheduled to start at 7:30 PM.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Turns out it wasn’t just Comcast SportsNet that was a huge winner from last night’s Celtics/Bulls 3OT thriller:

TNT’s Coverage of Celtics/Bulls Game #6 is Most Watched Round One Game in Cable Television History

TNT delivered a slam dunk on Thursday night with the triple-overtime showdown of the Boston Celtics @ Chicago Bulls Game #6, earning a 3.5 US HH rating and delivering 4,048,000 households and 5,352,000 total viewers making the game the most watched Round One NBA game in cable television history. In addition, the game was also cable’s #1 telecast for the evening in households, total viewers and key adult and male demos. Chicago evened the series at three games a piece with a 128-127 victory in the NBA playoff record fourth overtime game in the series.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Last night’s Celtics/Bulls triple overtime thriller scored a combined 13.4 rating. Comcast SportsNet scored a very impressive 8.2 rating, while TNT netted 5.2.

As the release below shows, that 8.2 is the highest Celtics rating in CSN network history, going back 28 years.

COMCAST SPORTSNET’S GAME 6 TRIPLE OVERTIME THRILLER NETS 28-YEAR REGIONAL SPORTS NETWORK HIGHEST RATINGS IN HISTORY

Celtics-Bulls First Round Series Up Nearly 10 percent over Celtics-Hawks of 2008

CSN Has Deciding Game 7 Saturday Night Starting at 7 p.m.

BURLINGTON, MA – The Boston Celtics are generating more interest than any time during Comcast SportsNet’s 28-year history. CSN achieved its highest rating in network history during the Celtics-Bulls Game 6 triple overtime thriller with an 8.2 rating. Game 6 reached an estimated 360,800 homes in New England.

Despite sharing each telecast in New England with a national network and the absence of Kevin Garnett, CSN is outperforming last year’s historic playoff run through five telecasts by nearly 10 percent. CSN has averaged a 6.8 hh rating (299,200), which is up 9.6 percent over CSN’s 6.2 playoff average through five Celtics-Hawks telecasts.

During the Celtics-Bulls series, CSN has outperformed the national network by 78 percent 6.8 to 3.8. In game 6, CSN averaged an 8.2 hh (360,800) rating and TNT a 5.2. In Game 5, CSN bested TNT in ratings nearly 2 to 1 with a 6.3 hh rating (277,200) and TNT a 3.3.

Tomorrow night’s deciding game seven will also be shown on Comcast SportsNet, with the schedule as follows:

7 p.m. – Celtics Pre-Game Live with Gary Tanguay and Donny Marshall

8 p.m. – Celtics vs. Bulls with Mike Gorman and Tommy Heinsohn

10:30 p.m. – Celtics Post-Game Live

Popularity: 8% [?]

The Celtics blowout win in game three of their opening round playoff series scored a strong 10.8 rating combined between Comcast SportsNet and TNT.

CSN picked up 6.8 of that rating number, leaving the remaining 4.0 to TNT.

You can browse notes from the TNT broadcast here.

Popularity: 8% [?]

The ratings are in for NESN’s telecast of the Bruins series-ending victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Last night’s game four scored a 9.2, which was also the average for the entire series.

New England’s most watched sports network, earned a 9.2 average household rating for the Boston Bruins four game sweep of the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal. This is the highest rated playoff series in NESN’s 25 year history. The 9.2 rating equals an average of 221,000 households in the Boston DMA.

NESN’s previous record rating for a playoff series was an 8.4 household rating, which the network earned during the 2004 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the Canadiens, a series that went seven games.

Along with the ratings information for last night, here is some additional information provided by the network:

NESN’s ratings for the four game series proved to be consistent, featuring the network’s third (9.5 – Game 2), fourth (9.4 – Game 1) and fifth (9.2 – Game 4) highest rated Bruins games of all time.

NESN’s ratings performance in the key demographic categories are up over 60% in almost every category vs. last year’s playoff coverage including Women 25-54 where the network is up 77% year over year. The network’s pre and post-game programs have also seen exceptional growth since last year’s first round playoff coverage with WB Mason Bruins Face-Off LIVE up 126% (2.7 HH) and Bruins Overtime LIVE presented by Ace Ticket.com up 81% (3.6 HH).

So the per game average for the series was as follows:

• Game 1: 9.4
• Game 2: 9.5
• Game 3: 8.9
• Game 4: 9.2

Game three went head-to-head with the Celtics broadcast.

Popularity: 6% [?]

I’m a little late on this, but here goes:

With the Bruins and Celtics going head-to-head on Monday night, the Bruins (according to what I heard on D&C yesterday morning) did an 8.9 on NESN.

The Celtics, did a 9.0, combined between CSN and TNT.

Nationally, the Celtics did well for TNT, according to Sports Media Watch:

Game 2 of the Bulls/Celtics series, featuring a game-winning shot by Boston’s Ray Allen, drew a 2.5 U.S. rating from 7:07-9:53 PM Monday night, up 39% from a 1.8 U.S. rating for Wizards/Cavaliers Game 2 in the comparable timeslot last year.

Popularity: 8% [?]

For last Thursday night’s Bruins/Canadiens game one, NESN scored a 9.4 rating.

The post below this one outlines the national numbers ESPN got for Celtics/Bulls, but locally, Saturday’s Celtics/Bulls game one scored a 9.5 rating, which was split between CSN (4.8) and ESPN (4.7)

It is striking how similar the ratings were, despite a number of factors – the difference in the dates/times of the games, the networks involved, and the “buzz”  for each team heading into their playoff series. The Bruins had a positive vibe, while the Celtics enter the playoffs reeling from the news that Kevin Garnett will likely not play in the postseason, and Danny Ainge suffering a heart attack.

It’s unfortunate for CSN that ESPN split the ratings. It’s probably safe to assume that those who watched the game on ESPN would’ve also watched it on CSN, which would’ve given them the entire 9.5 number.

I’ll be interested to find out how the numbers work tonight. The Celtics game is again split, this time between CSN and TNT. The Bruins again have NESN all to themselves.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Sports Media Watch reports that the Bulls/Celtics game on Saturday was the only NBA playoff game that showed a ratings increase for ESPN over the same time slot a year ago:

The first game of the NBA Playoffs, the Bulls’ Game 1 overtime victory over the Celtics, drew a 2.5 overnight rating on ESPN Saturday afternoon, up 19% over a 2.1 for Wizards/Cavaliers Game 1 in the same timeslot last year, and up 79% from a 1.4 for Nets/Raptors Game 1 in ‘07.

Bulls/Celtics was the only NBA Playoff game on Saturday to see increased ratings.

Keep in mind that this is just the national ESPN ratings. This is not the local Comcast SportsNet rating.

Popularity: 7% [?]

NESN passed out a release this afternoon with some highlights of their best Bruins full season rating average in network history:

NESN, New England’s most watched sports network, announced today that on average more than 60,000 homes in the Boston DMA tuned in to each Bruins game during the 2008/09 season setting a network record. NESN’s 2.5 household average in the Boston DMA marks a 69% increase over last season and matches the 1995/96 season for the best full season rating average in network history.

Just as impressive as NESN’s household ratings growth is the network’s performance in many of the key demographic categories including Adults 18-49 (up 50%), Adults 25-54 (up 57%) and Men 25-54 (up 64%). In all three of these demos NESN’s Bruins coverage is the highest rated winter sport in the Boston DMA.

“Bruins fans are some of the most passionate hockey fans in the NHL and they have shown that this year on NESN,” said Sean McGrail, NESN president. “Hockey is back here in New England and Bruins fans are buzzing with excitement as the team gets ready for the playoffs.”

This Bruins season was marked by numerous ratings records on NESN including a 4.7 household rating for the Bruins-Canadiens game on April 9th, NESN’s highest single game regular season rating since February of 1995. Bruins ratings grew every month during the regular season concluding with a 3.3 household rating during the month of April.

In addition to NESN’s increased game ratings, NESN’s pre and post-game shows have also shown significant growth. WB Mason Bruins Face-Off LIVE concluded the regular season up 38% over last year and Ace Ticket Bruins Overtime LIVE is up 55%.

NESN will deliver regionally exclusive coverage of every game during the Bruins first round playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens beginning Thursday, April 16th at 7:00 PM. NESN’s coverage kicks off at 6:30 PM with WB Mason Bruins Face-Off LIVE.

While the ratings increased are impressive, I think that more mention should probably be made of the impressive turnaround season that the Bruins had on the ice, which led to these increased ratings.

Popularity: 7% [?]

From NESN:

NESN’s coverage of yesterdays Red Sox opening day win garnered a 17.9 average household rating in the Boston DMA setting an opening day record. The previous best opening day game rating was 17.6 on 4/3/05, a game that aired in primetime against the Yankees on WSBK-TV.

NESN’s game rating was the top rated program in the market beating every primetime show including American Idol.

NESN also set a network record opening day pre-game show rating of a 4.3 for the debut of NESN’s reintroduced 1-hour pre-game show Olympia Sports presents The Boston Globe Red Sox Game Day LIVE.

Popularity: 6% [?]