The media frenzy surrounding the New York Knicks has begun to recede, but not before the team attracted some strong television audiences for ABC and TNT.
The February 19 Mavericks/Knicks NBA regular season game earned a 3.8 final rating and 5.916 million viewers on ABC, the second-highest rated (tie) and third-most viewed regular season NBA game on the network since acquiring rights to the league in 2002 (excludes Christmas Day games).
The game also ranks as ABC’s second-highest rated NBA game of any kind — including Christmas Day and playoff games — in an early afternoon timeslot (start time prior to 2 PM ET). Only the Christmas 2005 Spurs/Pistons game (3.9) drew a higher rating.
Later in the day, Magic/Heat drew a 3.4 final rating and 5.496 million viewers, ranking as ABC’s ninth-highest rated (tie) and seventh-most viewed regular season game (again, excluding Christmas Day games).
Knicks/Heat Ratings Up 60% on TNT: On Thursday night, the Knicks’ battle against the Heat earned a 3.2 U.S. rating and 5.092 million viewers — up 60% in ratings and 61% in viewership from coverage in a later timeslot last year (MIA/CHI: 2.0, 3.159M), and the fifth-most viewed NBA regular season game on cable since at least 1995-96 season.
Only Heat/Celtics in October 2010 (7.348M), Bulls/Lakers in February 1996 (7.271M), Heat/Cavaliers in December 2010 (7.096M) and Celtics/Knicks on Christmas Day 2011 (5.860M) earned more viewers.
Also Thursday night, Lakers/Thunder drew a 2.3 U.S. rating and 3.665 million viewers, up 44% and 43%, respectively, from last year (BOS/DEN: 1.6, 2.572M).
Highest Rated NBA Regular Season Games on ABC
Excludes Christmas Day Games
|
#
|
Date
|
Game
|
Net
|
Rating
|
Viewers (000)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Sun., 1/30/11 | BOS 109, LAL 96 | ABC |
4.3
|
7,003
|
|
2
|
Sun., 2/8/09 | LAL?101, CLE?91 | ABC |
3.8
|
6,077
|
|
3
|
Sun., 2/19/12 | DAL 97, NY 104 | ABC |
3.8
|
5,916
|
|
T4
|
Sun., 1/29/12 | CHI 93, MIA 97 | ABC |
3.5
|
5,699
|
|
T4
|
Sun., 1/31/10 | LAL 90, BOS 89 | ABC |
3.5
|
5,655
|
|
T4
|
Sun., 2/13/11 | LAL 75, ORL 89 | ABC |
3.5
|
5,631
|
|
T4
|
Sun., 4/4/04 | SA 95, LAL 89 | ABC |
3.5
|
5,068
|
|
T4
|
Sun., 2/16/03 | SA 104, SAC 101 | ABC |
3.5
|
4,708
|
|
T9
|
Sun., 2/19/12 | ORL 78, MIA 90 | ABC |
3.4
|
5,496
|
|
T9
|
Sun., 2/13/11 | MIA 82, BOS 85 | ABC |
3.4
|
5,163
|
|
T9
|
Sun., 3/9/03 | PHI 92, LAL 106 | ABC |
3.4
|
4,723
|
(February 19 numbers from Media Life Magazine; February 23 numbers from Bloomberg, Media Life Magazine)
