A halfway decent NBA doubleheader on ABC earned good enough numbers last weekend.
ABC earned a 2.7 final rating and 4.1 million viewers for the Bulls/Lakers NBA regular season game last Sunday, up a tick in ratings and flat in viewership compared to Celtics/Lakers last year (2.6, 4.0M), and up 93% in both measures compared to Magic/Suns in 2011 (1.4, 2.1M).
Keep in mind the comparable games both last year and in 2011 aired on college basketball’s Selection Sunday. Even so, this year’s game faced arguably tougher competition — Tiger Woods‘ victory at the WGC-Cadillac Championship (3.7, 5.5M).
Earlier in the day, Celtics/Thunder drew a 2.0 and 2.9 million viewers, matching the ABC season-low set by Lakers/Mavericks in February (2.0, 2.9M). There was no comparable game last year or in 2011.
(Sunday’s numbers from Sports Business Daily)
