Sporting events accounted for the most-watched TV programs on four nights last week, while Fox drew record viewership for a Women’s World Cup group play game.
ABC’s coverage of Games 3, 4 and 5 of the NBA Finals were the three most-watched prime-time programs between June 8 and Sunday, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.
The Golden State Warriors’ 104-91 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 5 on Sunday was the week’s most-watched program, averaging 20.86 million viewers, and the biggest audience for a Game 5 of the NBA Finals since 2004.
Game 4 last Thursday was second for the week, averaging 19.84 million viewers, the most for a Game 4 since 2004. Game 3 last Tuesday was third, averaging the most for a Game 3 since 2001.
Through five games, the finals are averaging 19.6 million viewers, the most since 1998, when the games aired on NBC and which marked then-NBA superstar Michael Jordan’s last finals appearance.
The lone Stanley Cup Final game on broadcast television last week was Game 5 on Saturday, which attracted 5.26 million hockey fans. It was 22nd for the week, but the night’s most-watched program.
Fox’s coverage of Friday’s 0-0 tie between the U.S. and Sweden averaged 4.49 million viewers, the most for a Women’s Cup group play game on U.S. television.
The game was 40th among the week’s prime-time broadcast and cable programs and gave Fox a second-place finish in the Friday 8-10 p.m. time slot, behind the ABC duo of “Shark Tank” and “What Would You Do?”
The previous record for a Women’s World Cup group play game was 3.31 million for the U.S.-Australia game four days earlier on cable’s Fox Sports 1.
NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” was the week’s only program outside the NBA Finals to attract more than 9 million viewers, averaging 10.44 million to finish fourth.
The NBA Finals helped make ABC the most-watched network for the second consecutive week, averaging 9.02 million viewers. CBS was second, averaging 5.02 million, followed by NBC (4.93 million) and Fox (3.36 million).
ABC’s most-watched nonbasketball program was “The Bachelorette” at 12th for the week, averaging 6.37 million viewers.
The week’s most-watched scripted program was the season finale of the HBO fantasy drama “Game of Thrones,” which averaged 8.11 million viewers to finish fifth for the week overall and first among cable programs.
“Game of Thrones” was fourth for the week among viewers ages 18-49, the group targeted by NBC, ABC and Fox and coveted by advertisers, and first among entertainment programs for the second consecutive week.
For the second consecutive week, NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” drew the largest audience of its seven-season run, 6.99 million, to finish ninth for the week.
USA Network was the week’s most-watched cable channel, averaging 1.76 million viewers.
The week’s most-watched Spanish-language prime-time program was the Thursday episode of the Univision telenovela “Lo Imperdonable,” which averaged 2.83 million viewers, putting it 76th among all broadcast and cable programs.
As usual, Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network, averaging 2.29 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 1.25 million, followed by UniMas (480,000), Estrella TV (180,000), MundoFox (170,000) and Azteca America (80,000).
The “NBC Nightly News” averaged 7.87 million viewers to be the most- watched network nightly newscast, followed by ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” (7.81 million) and the “CBS Evening News” (6.47 million).
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were ABC’s coverage of Games 5, 4 and 3 of the NBA Finals; NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”; HBO’s “Game of Thrones”; CBS’ “60 Minutes,” “NCIS,” and “The Big Bang Theory”; NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior”; and CBS’ “NCIS: New Orleans.”
— City News Service