The NBA Finals ended with one of the league’s five best overnights since 1998.
Game 6 of the Warriors/Cavaliers NBA Finals earned a 15.9 overnight rating on ABC Tuesday night, up 8% from Spurs/Heat in 2013 (14.7) and up 6% from Mavericks/Heat in 2011 (15.0), the two most recent game sixes. The 15.9 is the highest for Game 6 of the NBA Finals since Pacers/Lakers in 2000 (17.3).
All six games of the Warriors/Cavaliers series hit at least an 11-year high in the overnights, with Tuesday’s 15-year high the top mark of the series (with the caveat that the highly rated 2001 and 2004 series ended in five).
The 15.9 overnight is also the third-highest for any NBA Finals game since the event moved to ABC in 2003, trailing only Games 7 of Celtics/Lakers in 2010 (18.2) and Spurs/Heat in 2013 (17.7). This year’s NBA Finals generated six of the 13 highest overnights on ABC, and LeBron James teams have accounted for 9 of the top 13. Before James joined the Miami Heat in 2010, 12 of the network’s 13 highest overnights were for games involving the Lakers.
Going back further, the 15.9 is the sixth-highest overnight for any NBA game since 1998 — trailing the previously mentioned Pacers/Lakers, Celtics/Lakers and Spurs/Heat games, as well as Lakers/Kings Game 7 in 2002 (16.9) and Lakers/Sixers Game 3 in 2001 (16.1).
Cleveland was the top market for Game 6 with a 42.0 rating, down 1% from Game 5 (42.5) and down 8% from Game 4 (45.7). After hitting a 49.0 for Game 3, the Cavaliers’ last victory in the series, ratings in the market declined for each successive game.
The Warriors’ win drew a 40.7 in the Bay Area, up 21% from Game 5 (33.6) and the market’s highest NBA rating since ESPN/ABC acquired rights. That tops the Giants’ three World Series clinchers — 2010, 2012 and 2014 — including last year’s 38.1 for Game 7 against the Royals.
(Tue. numbers from ESPN Media Zone)
