The NBA’s latest marquee matchup scored strong numbers for TNT Thursday night.
Thursday’s Lakers/Heat game drew a 3.1 U.S. rating and 4.844 million viewers on TNT, marking the third-most viewed regular season NBA game on the network since the 1995-96 season.
Compared to last year’s equivalent game, which aired in a later timeslot, Miami’s win was up 327% in viewership (CHI/ORL: 1.135M).
TNT’s four largest regular season audiences since the 1995-96 campaign have come this season alone — Heat/Celtics on Opening Night (7.348M), Heat/Cavaliers on December 2 (7.096M), Thursday night’s game (4.844M), and Lakers/Celtics on February 10 (4.714M).
Prior to this season, the network’s top game since 1995-96 was Lakers/Celtics in February 2009 (4.311M).
Later Thursday night, Knicks/Mavericks earned a 1.6 and 2.429 million viewers. The Knicks’ blowout loss was up 156% in viewership compared to last year (POR/GS: 949K).
So far this season, TNT is averaging a 1.6 U.S. rating and 2.446 million viewers for NBA coverage, up 31% and 35%, respectively, from last year (1.2, 1.814M). Viewership is up 30% from the 1995-96 season (1.885M), currently the most-viewed NBA season ever on Turner Sports.
5 Most Viewed Regular Season NBA Games on TNT
Since 1995-96 Season
|
#
|
Date | Time | Game | Net | Rating | Viewers (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Tue., 10/26/10 | 7:30 PM | MIA 80, BOS 88 | TNT |
4.6
|
7,348
|
|
2
|
Thu., 12/2/10 | 8 PM | MIA 118, CLE 90 | TNT |
4.2
|
7,096
|
|
3
|
Thu., 3/10/11 | 7 PM | LAL 88, MIA 94 | TNT |
3.1
|
4,844
|
|
4
|
Thu., 2/10/11 | 8 PM | LAL 92, BOS 86 | TNT |
2.9
|
4,714
|
|
5
|
Thu., 2/5/09 | 8 PM | LAL 110, BOS 109 | TNT |
2.7
|
4,311
|
(Turner Sports, TV By the Numbers)
