TNT’s Cavaliers-Hawks Draws 6.8 Million Viewers

By R. Thomas Umstead
published

TNT’s Cleveland Cavaliers-Atlanta Hawks NBA Eastern Conference finals telecast last night scored 6.8 million viewers, the network said Thursday.

The game, which the Cavaliers won to take a 1-0 lead in the best of seven game series, was the highest rated and the most-watched NBA game telecast on the network this season. The 6.8 million viewers was up 8% over the network’s coverage of the first game of the Western Conference finals last year, according to TNT officials.

TNT’s Inside The NBA series averaged a 2.6 overnight rating, ranking it as the second highest-rated program of the night across cable behind the Cavaliers-Hawks telecast.

TNT will air game two of the Eastern Conference Finals Friday from Atlanta.

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.