MSGN Posts Top Knicks' Telecast on New Year's Night

The New York Knicks rung in the new year on the wrong side of the ledger, but MSG Network scored its most-watched game of the 2012-13 NBA season.

The Jan. 1 telecast of the Portland Trail Blazers’ 105-100 win over the Knicks, which featured the return of forward Amar’e Stoudemire, generated a 5.32 household rating in the New York DMA, according to Nielsen data. The contest also set season-high ratings in two key demos, registering a 3.29 rating with adults 25 to 54 and a 4.87 rating against men of that age.

Through the first 24 Nielsen-measured games on MSG this season (the first three were not gauged because of outages tied to Superstorm Sandy), Knicks telecasts have averaged 3.52 household rating, up 74% from a 2.02 mark over the first 24 measured games of last season. On the demo side, the games have recorded a 2.09 rating among adults 25 to 54, up 118% from a 0.96, and a 2.99 rating with med 25-54, 105% amelioration from a 1.46.