NBA ratings are up across the board this postseason, with ABC seeing its best numbers in two years.
Through ten broadcasts, ABC is averaging a 3.7 rating for NBA Playoff games, up 28% from a 2.9 last year. Last Saturday night, Celtics/Pistons Game 3 drew a 3.7 rating with 5.5 million viewers, up 19% and 16%, respectively, from Spurs/Jazz Game 3 last year. The game finished as the eighth-most watched prime time program on ABC for the week.
While preliminary numbers suggested that the game would draw a much smaller audience than Games 1 and 2 on ESPN, the 5.5 million viewers for Game 3 was only slightly down from 5.7 million for Game 2, and higher than the 5.4 million for Game 1.
Not surprisingly, the game easily outdrew the competing Stanley Cup Finals telecast on Versus. Even using the Mark Cuban method of combining the totals from the U.S. and Canada, the NBA came out on top. The 5.5 million viewers for Game 3 on ABC was more than the 5.2 million who watched Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Versus, CBC and RDS combined.
ABC’s 3.7 average for the NBA Playoffs is the highest the network has drawn through ten games since 2006, when the network averaged a 3.8. In 2003 and 2004, ABC averaged ratings of 4.8 and 4.6 for NBA Playoff coverage, though the network aired fewer games during those years.
NBA Playoff ratings/viewers on ABC.
3.2/8, 4.6 mil: Suns/Spurs Game 1 (4/19, 3 PM ABC)
3.5/8, 5.1 mil: Nuggets/Lakers Game 1 (4/20, 3 PM ABC)
2.4/6, 3.4 mil: Cavaliers/Wizards Game 4 (4/27, 1 PM ABC)
3.5/8, 5.2 mil: Spurs/Suns Game 4 (4/27, 3:30 PM ABC)
3.5/10, 4.8 mil: Hawks/Celtics Game 7 (5/4, 1 PM ABC)
4.1/10, 5.9 mil: Jazz/Lakers Game 1 (5/4, 3:30 PM ABC)
3.2/6, 4.7 mil: Celtics/Cavaliers Game 3 (5/10, 8:15 PM ABC)
4.1/10, 6.2 mil: Lakers/Jazz Game 4 (5/11, 3:30 PM ABC)
5.7/13, 8.7 mil: Cavaliers/Celtics Game 7 (5/18, 3:30 PM ABC)
3.7, 5.5 mil: Celtics/Pistons Game 3 (5/24, 8:30 PM ABC)
