More people watched Thursday night’s Lakers/Rockets Game 6 than any other basketball game in ESPN’s 30-year history.
The Rockets’ series-tying Game 6 win drew a 4.6 U.S. rating (5.4 cable) and 7.4 million viewers on ESPN Thursday night, up 53% and 68%, respectively, from a 3.0 (3.6 cable) and 4.4 million for last year’s comparable Hornets/Spurs Game 6, and the most viewers ever for a basketball game (college or pro) on the ESPN family of networks.
The 7.4 million viewers surpasses the previous high for a basketball game on ESPN, 6.6 million viewers for Pistons/Heat Game 6 in ’06. Additionally, the 7.4 million makes Lakers/Rockets Game 6 ESPN’s most viewed program of 2009, surpassing the previous high of 6 million for Game 3 of the series last Friday.
It should be pointed out that while the 7.4 million viewers is a record for ESPN, it is not a record for the NBA on cable; the most viewed NBA game ever on cable was the 2003 NBA All-Star Game, which drew 10.8 million viewers on TNT.
The game drew a 13.0 in Los Angeles and a 16.0 in Houston. The 16.0 in Houston is the highest rating an ESPN telecast has ever drawn in a local market.
Partly on the strength of Lakers/Rockets, ESPN averaged a 3.0 U.S. rating (3.5 cable) and 4.6 million viewers for its six NBA second round games, up 11% in ratings and 16% in viewership from a 2.7 (3.2 cable) and 4.0 million for seven telecasts in ’08.
Source: ESPN, via The Futon Critic
