One of the more unexpected results this NBA season put up respectable numbers on ABC.
Last Sunday’s Warriors/Lakers NBA regular season game drew a 2.4 final rating and 3.7 million viewers on ABC, up a third in ratings and 31% in viewership from Clippers/Warriors last year (1.8, 2.8M) and up 9% and 10%, respectively, from Thunder/Lakers in 2014 (2.2, 3.4M).
The Lakers’ surprise win earned the third-largest audience of the season, excluding Christmas Day games — behind only Warriors/Thunder the previous weekend (5.3M) and Bulls/Cavaliers in January (3.9M). All three of those games aired on ABC. Including Christmas games, Sunday’s game ranks sixth.
Golden State has now played in five of the eight most-watched games this season, with three coming in the span of eight days — the game against the Thunder on February 27, a rematch on TNT March 3 (3.6M), and Sunday’s game against the Lakers.
Despite the solid numbers, Warriors/Lakers trailed both NASCAR on FOX (4.1, 7.2M) and the PGA Tour on NBC (2.6, 4.0M) head-to-head on Sunday.
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily)
