ABC earned solid — though not particularly impressive — numbers for an NBA doubleheader last week.
Last Sunday’s Lakers/Clippers NBA regular season game drew a 2.8 final rating and 4.3 million viewers on ABC, up a tick in ratings and 2% in viewership from Heat/Celtics last year (2.7, 4.2M), and up 12% and 9%, respectively, from Nuggets/Lakers in 2011 (2.5, 4.0M).
The game earned the largest audience for any NBA regular season game since Lakers/Heat on ABC February 10 (6.5M).
Earlier in the day, the Knicks/Thunder game drew a 2.1 and 3.0 million viewers — up 11% in ratings and 6% in viewership from Bulls/Thunder last year (1.9, 2.9M), and up 62% and 55%, respectively, from Suns/Spurs in 2011 (1.3, 2.0M).
Knicks/Thunder was the fifth NBA telecast on ABC this season to draw a 2.1 rating or lower, compared to one such telecast last year, and three in the 2010-11 season. On the flip side, ABC has drawn at least a 3.0 rating only five times this season (including Christmas Day) — compared to nine such games last year and seven in the 2010-11 season.
Go back three years, however, and this year’s numbers look solid by comparison. In the 2009-10 season, ABC drew a rating of 2.1 or lower nine times, and a rating of 3.0 or higher only three times.
Also over the weekend, ESPN drew a season-low 0.5 U.S. rating and 638,000 viewers for Sixers/Heat on Saturday night. The game, which was added to the ESPN schedule during the Heat’s 27-game winning streak, aired opposite the NCAA Tournament Final Four.
* Sunday ratings compared to ABC’s first telecasts after the NCAA Tournament last year (April 1) and in 2011 (April 3).
(Sunday’s numbers from Sports Business Daily, with additional information from Son of the Bronx)
