Santa Stern delivered two big lumps of coal to ABC on Wednesday.
Wednesday’s Heat/Lakers NBA regular season game drew a 4.9 overnight rating on ABC, down 18% from Thunder/Heat last year (6.0), and down 23% from Bulls/Lakers in 2011 (6.4). The 4.9 overnight is the lowest for the late afternoon Christmas game since Suns/Lakers in 2007 (3.5).
The last time the Heat and Lakers played on Christmas Day (2010), the game earned a 7.3 overnight. At the time, the Lakers were the two-time defending champions and LeBron James was in his first year with the Heat.
Earlier in the day, the Thunder/Knicks game drew a 3.7 overnight — down 37% from Knicks/Lakers last year (5.9), and down 34% from Heat/Mavericks in 2011 (5.6). The 3.7 is the lowest for any Christmas Day game on broadcast since Spurs/Suns in 2008 (3.8).
The Christmas Day games performed better on cable. ESPN earned a 2.3 overnight for the Clippers/Warriors nightcap, up 15% from Nuggets/Clippers last year (2.0), and even with Clippers/Warriors in 2011 (2.3).
Rockets/Spurs scored a slightly-better 2.4, up 41% from Rockets/Bulls last year (1.7) and up 26% from Magic/Thunder in 2011 (1.9). The 2.4 is the highest for a Christmas night game on ESPN.
The early Bulls/Nets game was ESPN’s only dud, earning a 2.3 overnight — down 15% from Celtics/Nets last year (2.7), and down 44% from Celtics/Knicks on TNT in 2011 (4.1).
* UPDATED 12/26: Original post erroneously listed Bulls/Nets as drawing a 2.0 overnight. It actually had a 2.3.
(Overnights from ESPN Media Zone)
