The Orlando Magic’s first win of the season over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday brought in large television rating numbers to the City Beautiful.
More people are watching the Orlando Magic this season in Orlando than they have in the post-Dwight Howard era.
Tuesday night’s Orlando Magic win over the New Orleans Pelicans produced a 1.73 TV rating according to Fox Sports Florida. A number reminiscent for a season opener rather than an early season Tuesday game.
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The Magic’s 103-94 win in New Orleans garnered similar numbers to the Magic’s season opener against the Washington Wizards which got a 1.74 TV rating according to Fox Sports Florida. The season opener was the highest rated season opening Magic game broadcasted on Fox Sports Florida since the 2010-2011 season.
The Magic home opener against the Wizards was the second-highest Fox Sports Florida rating for a Magic game since the start of last season, according to Nielsen. The Magic’s game on Tuesday comes in third in that span.
Tuesday’s night’s win, which marked Magic coach Scott Skiles’ first win with the team, was the most watched sporting event of the night in Orlando.
It is a positive start for the Magic as the television numbers have been trending downward since Howard’s departure from Orlando.
Two weeks ago , Orlando Sentinel’s Josh Robbins wrote on the decline of the Magic TV viewership since Howard’s last season with the Magic in 2012.
According to Robbins, during the 2012 season local Magic telecasts on Sun Sports drew an average audience of 48,733 viewers during each game, according to Nielsen ratings.
In comparison, last season Fox Sports Florida, which televised all 82 regular season games, drew an average audience of 15,676 viewers during each game, the Nielsen ratings show. Those numbers resulted in the Magic being among the bottom five teams in the NBA in local TV ratings.
Even though it is early in the season, one thing is clear is that Orlando is more interested in watching the Magic then they have been since the Dwight Howard era.
[…] Fox Sports Florida since 2010. The Magic’s first win of the season at New Orleans garnered similar numbers to opening night. Three of the four highest rated Magic games on Fox Sports Florida in the last two seasons have […]