Ratings Roundup: One in Three Boston Viewers Watched Red Sox, Bruins on NESN Sunday; UFC on FOX Audience Continues to Rise

The seventh installment of UFC on FOX on April 20 (lightweight champion Benson Henderson defended his title over Gilbert Melendez), posted a 2.2/4 average household rating/share, with 3.7 million viewers, up 47% over last year’s comparable UFC on FOX event on May 5, 2012 (1.5/3, 2.4 million viewers). FOX UFC SATURDAY out-rated the combined averages of ABC, CBS and NBC among Men 18-34 (2.2 vs. 1.0), Men 18-49 (2.7 vs. 1.6) and Men 25-54 (2.8 vs. 2.2). After two events this year, UFC on FOX is averaging a 2.3/4, with 4.0 million viewers, which is a 10% increase in households and a 11% increase in average audience over the two-event average from 2012. (FOX)…

…NESN delivered simultaneous coverage of the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Bruins on NESN/NESNplus both Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21. For two consecutive days, the network’s broadcasts combined to garner over one third of the total viewers watching TV in the Boston DMA between 12:30p and 4:30p.

On Saturday, The Red Sox earned a 9.4/23 HH rating/share (vs. Kansas City Royals), while the Bruins posted a 4.7/12 HH rating share (against Pittsburgh Penguins). That totals a 14.0/35 HH rating share for the day. NESN followed up on Sunday with a 10.3/26 for the Red Sox (vs. Royals) and a 4.1/11 for the Bruins (vs. Florida Panthers), totaling a 14.4/37. (NESN)…

…TNT scored big increases for NBA playoff action on Wednesday. Game 2 of the Lakers/Spurs first round NBA playoff series drew 4.3 million viewers on TNT Wednesday night, up 38% from Clippers/Grizzlies Game 2 last year (3.1M). The game earned the second-largest audience of the playoffs on cable, trailing only Bucks/Heat Game 1 on Sunday (4.9M). Earlier in the night, Rockets/Thunder Game 2 drew 3.1 million viewers — up 69% from Jazz/Spurs Game 2 last year (1.8M), but down 7% from Nuggets/Thunder Game 2 in 2011 (3.3M). Despite a much closer result, Wednesday’s Game 2 drew over one million fewer viewers than the Thunder’s blowout victory in Game 1 (4.3M). (SportsMediaWatch)…

…Sun Sports’ game 2 coverage of the Miami Heat-Milwaukee Bucks playoff series set a new, all-time ratings record on the network, registering a 15.6 household rating average (HH RTG) in the South Florida DMA. The game, which peaked at a 19.0 HH RTG and finished as the number one rated program for the day in all demos, eclipsed the previous all-time ratings record of a 12.2 HH RTG set earlier this year when the HEAT beat the Boston Celtics on March 18. Through two playoff games (Game 1 was a side-by-side broadcast versus TNT that earned a 9.52 HH RTG for Sun Sports), the Fox-owned network is averaging a 12.4 HH RTG, which is on top of a 7.1 HH regular season average that was a network and team best. (Sun Sports)…

…The Brittney Griner-fueled 2013 WNBA Draft earned 379,000 viewers on ESPN2 April 15, up 101% from last year (189K). Prior to this year, the WNBA Draft aired in the afternoon. The draft, in which the Baylor center was selected #1 overall by the Mercury, drew more viewers than Games 1 and 3 of last year’s WNBA Finals. (SportsMediaWatch)…