The Miami Heat helped ABC and TNT to strong numbers during the penultimate week of the lockout-shortened NBA season.
The April 15 Heat/Knicks NBA regular season game drew a 2.8 final rating and 4.088 million viewers on ABC. There was no game on the comparable date last year.
Later in the day, Mavericks/Lakers drew a 3.0 and 4.490 million.
Through Thursday, eleven of the fifteen most-viewed NBA games on any network this season either involved the Heat or had a Heat game as a lead-in.
Heat/Bulls Earns Over Three Million For TNT: Thursday’s Bulls/Heat game drew 3.417 million viewers on TNT, down 7% from the same matchup on the network a week earlier (MIA/CHI: 3.671M), but still good enough to rank as the tenth most-viewed game of the season on cable.
Nine of the ten most-viewed games on cable this season have either involved the Heat or had a Heat game as a lead-in.
15 Most-Viewed Games During the 2011-12* NBA Regular Season
Through April 19
* 2011-12 season began on Christmas Day due to the owners’ five-month lockout of players, the fourth work stoppage in league history (all owner-imposed lockouts)
| # | Date |
Time
|
Away
|
Home |
Net
|
Rating | Viewers (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sun., 12/25/11 | 5 PM | Bulls | Lakers | ABC |
5.6
|
11,014
|
| 2 | Sun., 12/25/11 | 2:30 PM | Heat | Mavs | ABC |
4.9
|
9,023
|
| 3 | Sun., 3/4/12 | 3:30 PM | Heat | Lakers | ABC |
4.3
|
6,997
|
| 4 | Sun., 2/19/12 | 1 PM | Mavs | Knicks | ABC |
3.8
|
5,916
|
| 5 | Sun., 12/25/11 | 12 PM | Celtics | Knicks | TNT |
3.4
|
5,860
|
| 6 | Sun., 1/29/12 | 3:30 PM | Bulls | Heat | ABC |
3.5
|
5,699
|
| 7 | Sun., 2/19/12 | 3:30 PM | Magic | Heat | ABC |
3.4
|
5,496
|
| 8 | Thu., 2/23/12 | 7 PM | Knicks | Heat | TNT |
3.2
|
5,092
|
| 9 |
Sun., 3/4/12
|
1 PM | Knicks | Celtics | ABC |
3.3
|
4,996
|
| 10 | Tue., 12/27/11 | 8 PM | Celtics | Heat | TNT |
2.9
|
4,548
|
| 11 | Sun., 4/15/12 | 3:30 PM | Mavs | Lakers | ABC |
3.0
|
4,490
|
| 12 | Thu., 1/19/12 | 8 PM | Lakers | Heat | TNT |
2.7
|
4,396
|
| 13 | Sun., 4/1/12 | 3:30 PM | Celtics | Heat | ABC |
2.7
|
4,241
|
| 14 | Sun., 4/15/12 | 1 PM | Heat | Knicks | ABC |
2.8
|
4,088
|
| 15 | Sun., 2/12/12 | 3:30 PM | Bulls | Celtics | ABC |
2.6
|
4,069
|
(April 15 numbers from ESPN; Thursday’s numbers from The Futon Critic)
