After a relatively weak start, the 2013 NBA Finals returned to form Thursday night.
Game 4 of the Heat/Spurs NBA Finals drew a 10.0 final rating and 16.2 million viewers on ABC Thursday night, down 5% in ratings and 7% in viewership from Thunder/Heat Game 4 last year (10.5, 17.5M), and up 4% and 1%, respectively, from Heat/Mavericks Game 4 in 2011 (9.6, 16.1M).
Thursday’s game ranks as the third-highest rated and fourth-most viewed Game 4 of the NBA Finals since ABC resumed airing NBA games in the 2002-03 season.
Excluding series-clinchers, Game 4 ranks as the ninth-most viewed NBA game of any kind of ABC since the network reacquired rights.
Only one Spurs game has earned a larger audience since 1999 — Game 7 between the Pistons and Spurs in 2005 (19.0M). No other Spurs game since ’99, including the first three games of this year’s series, had earned even 15 million viewers.
The strong performance of Game 4 marks a sharp turnaround for the Heat/Spurs series. The first three games each drew less than a 9.0 rating, with Game 2 and Game 3 tied as the lowest rated NBA Finals telecasts in four years (8.5 each).
Among adults 18-49, Game 4 drew a 6.7 rating — down 10% from last year (7.4) and even with 2011 (6.7). The 6.7 is the third-best for a Game 4 on ABC since the network resumed airing games, trailing only last year and Lakers/Pistons in 2004 (9.1).
The Heat/Spurs series seems to be skewing a bit older than usual. Game 4 had a 6.5 rating among adults 18-34, down 17% from last year’s 7.8. Among adults 25-54, however, the game had a 7.1 rating — still down, but only by 5% from last year’s 7.5.
(Thursday’s numbers from ESPN, with additional info from ABC Media Net)
