Sunday’s Lakers/Cavaliers showdown gave ABC one of its best ever ratings for a regular season NBA game.
Lakers/Cavaliers drew a 3.8 final rating and 6.1 million viewers on ABC Sunday afternoon, up 46% in ratings from a 2.6 for last year’s comparable Lakers/Heat game. Excluding Christmas Day games, the 3.8 rating is the best ever for a regular season NBA game on ABC.
Additionally, the 3.8 is the best for a non-Christmas regular season game since NBC drew a 4.0 for Lakers/Trailblazers in April ’02, the network’s final regular season NBA telecast.
Ratings peaked at a 4.6 during the final full quarter-hour of the game (5:45-6 PM).
Despite the strong ratings, the game was beaten head-to-head by NBC’s coverage of the NFL Pro Bowl, which drew a 5.4 rating from 4:30-8 PM Sunday. From 4:30-6 PM, when both events were on at the same time, Lakers/Cavaliers averaged a 3.8, while the Pro Bowl averaged a 4.4.
Excluding Christmas Day games, only eight regular season NBA games have drawn a rating of 3.0 or higher on ABC since ’02. Of those eight games, seven involved the Los Angeles Lakers, and only three have come in the past five seasons.
Highest rated regular season NBA games on ABC.
excluding Christmas Day games
3.8, 6.1 mil: Lakers/Cavaliers (Sun., 2/8/09, 3:30 PM ABC)
3.5, 5.1 mil: Spurs/Lakers (Sun., 4/4/04, 3:30 PM ABC)
3.5, 4.7 mil: Spurs/Kings (Sun., 2/16/03, 3:30 PM ABC)
3.4, 4.7 mil: 76ers/Lakers (Sun., 3/9/03, 3:30 PM ABC)
3.1, 4.7 mil: Lakers/Kings (Sun., 4/4/04, 3:30 PM ABC)
3.1, 4.4 mil: Lakers/Cavaliers (Sun., 2/13/05, 3:30 PM ABC)
3.0, 4.1 mil: Nets/Lakers (Sun., 3/7/04, 3:30 PM ABC)
3.0, N/A mil: Mavericks/Lakers (Sun., 3/2/08, 3:30 PM ABC)
