- Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Cavaliers and Pistons drew the best numbers of any program on basic cable this year, drawing “7.4 million total viewers, 3.99 million 18-49s, 3.77 million 25-54s and 2.05 million 18-34s.” The game was the highest rated program of the week on cable, beating The Sopranos on HBO (4.9 to 4.7).
- Tomorrow’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals will not have too much of a hump to overcome; through four NBA Finals, ABC has never drawn a double-digit rating for a Game 1. In 2003, Game 1 drew a 6.4 rating, followed by a 9.8 in 2004, a 7.2 in 2005 and a 7.8 last season. For this series, which is accompanied by much fanfare but should end rather quickly, expect the best ratings to occur at the outset. Game 1 should draw around the same numbers for last year’s series, with the real dropoff occurring for Game 2 (opposite The Sopranos) and Games 3, 4 and possibly 5 (which should suffer in the ratings as the series will likely be largely uncompetitive by that point).
- Several reports stated that the Indianapolis 500 rain delay drew a better rating and had more viewers than Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals between the Spurs and Jazz. That was incorrect; the rain delay and the game both drew a 3.1 rating, and the game drew 4.7 million viewers, compared to the 4.4 for the delay.
WSJ: Rupert Murdoch spoke to White House about NFL streaming deals
Fox Corporation's campaign against the NFL's streaming deals reportedly reached the highest levels of the company and the government.
