Primetime Ratings: Hoops Finals Comes Up Huge
ABC cruised to a ratings win Wednesday with a 4.2 in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen’s overnights, with a whopping 15 share thanks to Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Jimmy Kimmel Live! and KIA NBA Countdown both did 2.3s before the game. Game 3, which saw the Cavaliers put up a convincing win over the Warriors, averaged a 5.2 in the 18-49 demo, while its overnight rating stood at 11.8.
Game 2 had done a 5.1 in 18-49.
The NBA Finals is the second-highest rated ever on ABC through three games, averaging a 12.2 overnight rating.
NBC posted a 1.3/5, with American Ninja Warrior at 1.6, down a tenth of a point from a week ago, and The Night Shift down 18% to 0.9. Neither was up against the NBA Finals a week before.
Fox had a 1.0/4, as MasterChef grew 9% to 1.2, and Wayward Pines slipped 22% to 0.7.
CBS did a 0.6/2 with repeats while The CW’s own repeats scored a 0.2/1.
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Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.