Though the overnight ratings were flat compared to last year, final numbers for Game 2 of the NBA Finals managed a slight increase.
Game 2 of the Heat/Spurs NBA Finals drew an 9.0 final rating and 15.1 million viewers on ABC Sunday night, up 6% in ratings and 4% in viewership from the same match-up last year (8.5, 14.6M) and down 13% and 9%, respectively, from Heat/Thunder in 2012 (10.4, 16.7M).
Sunday’s game ranks as the second-least watched Game 2 of the past five years, but the fifth-most watched Game 2 since ABC resumed airing the NBA Finals in 2003 (12 series). It earned the largest audience ever for a Game 2 involving the Spurs.
ABC has now aired the NBA Finals for as many years as predecessor NBC. The lowest Game 2 rating on NBC — a 9.1 for Nets/Lakers in 2002 — not only topped this year’s Game 2 rating, but eight of the twelve such telecasts on ABC. Nets/Lakers, it should be pointed out, did have about a million fewer viewers than Sunday’s game (14.0M).
Game 2 earned a 6.0 rating among adults 18-49, up 3% from last year (5.8) but down 16% from 2012 (7.1). Among adults 18-34, the game had a 5.5 fast-national rating — down 7% from last year (5.9) and down 27% from 2012 (7.5).
The first two games of the NBA Finals averaged an 8.9 and 14.9 million viewers on ABC, up 2% in ratings and 4% in viewership from last year, but down 12% and 9%, respectively, from 2012. The series continues to trend ahead of last year’s Cardinals/Red Sox World Series, which averaged an 8.5 and 13.9 million through two games on FOX.
UPDATE 6/10: The numbers released by ESPN/ABC were apparently fast-nationals. Via Media Life Magazine, the final numbers were a 9.0 and 15.1 million viewers.
(Sun. numbers from ESPN Media Zone, ABC Media Net)
