Both teams played their stars, but competition from the NCAA Tournament resulted in another record-low NBA overnight on ABC.
Thunder-Rockets scored a 1.1 overnight rating on ABC’s NBA Sunday Showcase yesterday, tying what is likely the lowest overnight ever for an NBA game on broadcast television. Cavaliers-Clippers pulled the same number eight days earlier. There was no comparable game on Elite Eight weekend last year, but overnights fell 21% from Rockets-Wizards in an earlier window two years ago (1.4).
The Rockets’ high-scoring rout was crushed head-to-head by the NCAA Tournament games, which pulled overnights of 6.5 and 9.9.
Sunday’s game concluded a brutal March for the NBA on ABC. The network posted four of its five lowest NBA overnights on record* during the month, no small feat considering it is now in its 15th season. Of the six games ABC aired in March, only one — Warriors-Knicks on March 5 — managed at least a 2.0.
* Overnights missing for a handful of games in the 2000s.
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily 3.27)
