ESPN’s Streaming Audience Up Significantly Across Metrics

Overnight ratings for ESPN’s prime-time NBA doubleheader on Friday, Nov. 4, were up 42 percent from last season’s comparable windows, according to Nielsen. Friday’s doubleheader averaged a 1.7 overnight rating, up from a 1.2 last year. Additionally, ESPN’s streaming audience was up 134 percent with 10,460,000 total average minutes streamed, up 96 percent with 238,000 average unique viewers and up 126 percent with an average audience of 68,000 viewers.

Warriors vs. Lakers

Friday’s 10:30 p.m. ET telecast between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers generated a 1.9 overnight rating, up 58 percent from a 1.2 for the Houston Rockets-Sacramento Kings game last season. ESPN streaming audience averaged 12,486,000 total minutes, 271,000 total unique viewers and an average audience of 80,000 viewers. This is up 191 percent, 149 percent and 191 percent, respectively, from last year’s game.

Knicks vs. Bulls

ESPN’s 8 p.m. exclusive telecast between the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls, which featured the Chicago returns of Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, generated a 1.6 overnight rating, up 33 percent compared to a 1.2 for the Miami Heat-Indiana Pacers game a year ago. The telecast also drew a 4.5 rating in the Chicago market, which is the highest-rated, regular-season ESPN NBA game in two years in the market.

ESPN’s streaming audience was up 81 percent with 8,434,000 total minutes, up 53 percent with 205,000 unique viewers and up 72 percent with an average audience of 56,000 viewers compared to last year.

The NBA on ESPN will continue with a doubleheader this Wednesday, Nov. 9, as the New York Knicks and Carmelo Anthony host the Brooklyn Nets and Jeremy Lin in a New York showdown at 7 p.m., followed by the San Antonio Spurs and Kawhi Leonard hosting the Houston Rockets and James Harden at 9:30 p.m.

ESPN NBA games are also available to stream live through WatchESPN and the ESPN app.

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Media contact: Ben Cafardo at 860-766-3496 or [email protected]. On twitter: @Ben_ESPN.