ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime and Sunday Showcase went in opposite directions over the weekend.
The Rockets/Bulls NBA regular season game drew a 1.4 overnight rating on ABC Saturday night, tied as the lowest for an NBA game on broadcast television since Suns/Kings in 2007 (1.2) — matching Rockets/Wizards last year and Heat/Pistons in 2009. All three of those games aired opposite the NCAA Tournament and during the afternoon.
The 1.4 is almost certainly the lowest ever for a primetime NBA game on broadcast television. It is also ranks among the lower overnights ever for a major sporting event on primetime broadcast TV, ahead of three MLB on FOX telecasts, two editions of the NHL on NBC, and a handful of college football games on FOX and CBS.
Head-to-head, the matchup of sub-.500 underacheivers edged competing coverage of the Louisville/Virginia college basketball game on ESPN (1.2), but trailed the network’s North Carolina/Duke game earlier in the night (2.1).
ABC did far better on Sunday. Warriors/Lakers delivered a 2.9 overnight, up 26% from Clippers/Warriors last year (2.3) and up 7% from Thunder/Lakers in 2014 (2.7). The 2.9 is tied as the third-highest overnight of the season, matching Bulls/Cavaliers on ABC in January and behind only Warriors/Cavaliers on TNT Martin Luther King Day (3.0) and Warriors/Thunder on ABC the previous weekend (3.9).
The Lakers’ upset win, which peaked at a 3.9 from 5:45-6 PM ET, drew a 13.0 rating in the Bay Area and a 4.4 in Los Angeles.
(Wknd. numbers from ESPN)
