Viewership for the opening two games of the NBA Finals on ABC — both of which went into overtime — was the largest since the 2001 Finals that aired on NBC.
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ 95-93 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 on Sunday was also the most-watched prime-time program between June 1 and Sunday, averaging 19.17 million viewers, according to live-plus-same-day figures released today by Nielsen.
The audience was the largest for a finals Game 2 since 1998, when Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls faced the Utah Jazz, in a series televised by NBC.
Golden State’s 108-100 victory in Game 1 last Thursday was second for the week, averaging 17.77 million viewers, the most for a Game 1 since the 2001 finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers.
NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” was the week’s only other program to average more than 9 million viewers — 10.84 million — to finish third.
The NBA Finals enabled ABC to be the most-watched network for the first time since the week of Feb. 16-22, when it aired the Oscars.
ABC averaged 7.17 million viewers, followed by CBS with 5.87 million, NBC with 5.34 million and Fox with 3.03 million.
ABC’s most-watched non-basketball program was “The Bachelorette,” which was 12th for the week, averaging 6.52 million viewers.
Even with a rerun, the CBS drama “NCIS” was the week’s most-watched scripted program, averaging 8.76 million viewers to finish fourth for the week.
NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” drew the largest audience of its seven- season history — 6.86 million — to finish ninth for the week.
Fox’s most-watched program was “Bones,” 31st for the week, averaging 5.21 million viewers.
The week’s lone premiere on the major broadcast networks, the ABC drama “The Whispers,” was second in its Monday 10-11 p.m. time slot and 25th for the week, averaging 5.66 million viewers. It won its time slot among viewers ages 18-49, 25-54 and 12-17.
CBS’ coverage of the Tony Awards was 13th for the week, averaging 6.46 million viewers — its smallest audience since 2012. Viewership was down 8.4 percent from last year.
HBO’s “Game of Thrones” was the week’s most-watched cable program, averaging 7.14 million viewers, for eighth overall. It was the week’s most- watched entertainment program among viewers ages 18-49, the group also targeted by NBC, ABC and Fox and coveted by advertisers, because they watch less television and are harder to reach..
Disney Channel was the week’s most-watched cable channel, averaging 1.73 million viewers. Its most-watched program was the comedy “K.C. Undercover,” 17th among the week’s prime-time cable programs, averaging 2.52 million viewers.
The week’s most-watched Spanish-language prime-time program was the Tuesday episode of the Univision telenovela “Amores Con Trampa,” which averaged 2.88 million viewers, 69th among all broadcast and cable programs.
As usual, Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network, averaging 2.26 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 1.28 million, followed by UniMas (520,000), Estrella TV (200,000), MundoFox (190,000) and Azteca America (70,000).
ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was the most-watched network nightly newscast after finishing second behind the “NBC Nightly News” for each of the previous two weeks.
“World News Tonight with David Muir” averaged 7.95 million viewers; the “NBC Nightly News” averaged 7.75 million; and the “CBS Evening News” was third, averaging 6.61 million.
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were ABC’s coverage of Games 2 and 1 of the NBA Finals; NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”; CBS’ “NCIS,” “60 Minutes,” ‘NCIS: New Orleans” and “The Big Bang Theory”; HBO’s “Game of Thrones”; NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior”; and CBS’ “NCIS: New Orleans.”
— City News Service