So WWE is a bigger draw than NBA!
Last Saturday, WWE aired its first Saturday Night's Main Event program on NBC in 16 years. The return pitted WWE directly against the semi-finals of the NBA Cup, with the Rockets-Thunder matchup airing on ABC.
The NBA and its media lackeys spent Tuesday morning touting a head-to-head victory for the NBA, citing a 1.89 million to 1.59 million viewer advantage. But the framing is dishonest.
The WWE event was simulcasted on NBC and its complementary streaming service, Peacock, on which 789,000 watched the program live. In actuality, WWE drew 2.3 million viewers compared to the NBA's 1.89 million viewers.
Discounting Peacock's viewership runs contrary to how viewership data is reported in 2024. For example, NBC always combines Peacock viewership with linear viewership when publishing ratings for its weekly Sunday Night Football presentations. The network also coupled the viewership from NBC and Peacock when promoting the numbers for the 2024 Summer Olympics last July and August.
Moreover, WWE fans are accustomed to streaming events on Peacock, where each premium live event exclusively airs — including WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and the Royal Rumble. Hence, the closer-than-normal linear-to-streaming breakdown. Specifically, about a third of WWE viewers streamed the event on Saturday.