The New York Knicks' hot start on the court is translating on TV as MSG Network is racking up big numbers with the NBA club’s games.
The Nov. 20 telecast was the highest-rated program in the New York DMA among key male demos and ranks as MSG’s top telecast since last March. New York’s dismantling of the New Orleans Hornets, which raised the team's mark to 8-1, netted a 3.95 household rating in the New York DMA, according to Nielsen data. That was the club's highest-rated game of the 2012-13 season-to-date and best since its March 30 match against the Atlanta Hawks scored a 4.06 mark.
Moreover, Knicks-Hornets was the New York market’s best show among guys 18 to 34 with a 4.16 rating and a 3.43 among males 25 to 54. Among the show the basketball game beat among the 25-to-54 set: NBC’s The Voice (3.12), CBS’s NCIS (2.61) and ABC’s Jeopardy (2.29).
Through six Nielsen-measured games on MSG this season, Knicks telecasts have averaged a 3.2 rating in the New York DMA, up 58% from the 2.02 for the first six games of the 2011-12 season. (Due to Superstorm Sandy, Nielsen was unable to report ratings between Oct. 29 and Nov. 8, a span that included three Knicks telecasts.)
