After soft numbers Friday night, overnight ratings bounced back for the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
Game 3 of the Hawks/Cavaliers NBA Eastern Conference Finals earned a 5.5 overnight rating on TNT Sunday night, up 17% from Spurs/Thunder last year (4.7) and down 4% from Heat/Pacers in 2013 (5.7). Compared to Pacers/Heat Game 3 on ESPN last year, which aired on a Saturday night, overnight ratings increased 12% from a 4.9.
The 5.5 marks a 20% increase over Friday’s Game 2 (4.6), which ended up as the lowest rated Eastern Conference Finals game in eight years.
According to Turner Sports, the Cavaliers’ win was television’s highest rated program of the day in the metered markets — meaning it topped the Indianapolis 500 on ABC and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on FOX. Overnights for those events were not immediately available.
Sunday’s game earned a 32.0 rating in Cleveland, up 10% from Game 2 (29.0) and the market’s highest rating ever for an NBA game on TNT. It drew a 10.1 in Atlanta, down 7% from Game 2 (10.9) and a series-low.
