For the third straight game, the Spurs/Thunder series earned solid numbers for TNT.
Game 3 of the Spurs/Thunder NBA Western Conference Finals drew 7.134 million viewers on TNT Thursday night, down 35% from Bulls/Heat Game 3 on a Sunday night last year (10.889M), and down 21% from Lakers/Suns Game 3 on a Sunday night in 2010 (8.969M).
Compared to Game 3 of last year’s Mavericks/Thunder series on ESPN, which aired on a Saturday night, viewership for Thursday’s game increased by 16% from 6.175 million viewers.
Every game of the Spurs/Thunder series has been up compared to Mavericks/Thunder last year, and the first two games were up from Lakers/Suns in 2010.
In addition, all three games have drawn at least seven million viewers. By comparison, only two of the Spurs’ previous 21 conference final games (2003, 2005, 2007 and 2008) hit that mark.
Game 3 was easily the highest rated program in all of television in the adults 18-49 demographic, topping a rerun of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ on CBS (2.3). Overall, the game ranked as the fourth-most viewed program on TV, trailing the aforementioned ‘The Big Bang Theory’ as well as reruns of ‘Person of Interest’ and ‘The Mentalist’ on CBS.
(Thursday’s numbers from TV By the Numbers)
