The concluding three games of the most-watched NBA Finals since 1998 gave ABC its most-watched week since it aired the 2015 Oscars, drawing more viewers than CBS and NBC combined.
The Cleveland Cavaliers 93-89 championship-clinching victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 Sunday averaged 31.02 million viewers, the most for an NBA Finals game since NBC’s coverage of Game 6 of the 1998 Finals averaged 35.89 million viewers for what proved to be Michael Jordan’s last finals game.
The series averaged 20.22 million viewers, the most since the 29.04 million average for the six-game 1998 finals, according to live-plus-same-day figures released today by Nielsen.
Viewership was up 1.4 percent from the 19.94 million average for the six- game 2015 finals, which had been the most since 1998.
Game 7 was the most-watched prime time program since the 2016 Oscars, which averaged 34.43 million viewers, its third lowest since individual viewership figures began being kept in 1974.
With NBA Finals-related programming accounting for each of the week’s four most-watched programs, ABC averaged 10.54 million viewers for its prime- time programming between June 13 and Sunday. CBS and NBC tied for second, averaging 4.57 million, with Fox fourth, averaging 3.07 million.
The week’s only non-NBA Finals program to average more than 8 million viewers was NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” which averaged 11.54 million viewers to finish fifth for the week.
“Game of Thrones” was the week’s most-watched cable program, averaging 7.66 million viewers, sixth overall. The HBO fantasy drama aired against Game 7 of the NBA Finals in the Eastern and Central time zones, but topped its 7.6- million average a week earlier when it aired opposite the Tony Awards in the Eastern and Central time zones.
“Uncle Buck” was another success for ABC, averaging 4.96 million viewers, the most for a summer comedy premiere since the CBS stop-motion animated series “Creature Comforts” averaged 6.19 million on June 4, 2007. “Uncle Buck” was third in its 9-10 p.m. time slot last Tuesday and 26th for the week.
The week’s other scripted premiere, the CBS drama “BrainDead” averaged 4.59 million viewers, third in its 10-11 p.m. time slot June 13th and 30th for the week.
ABC also had the most-watched unscripted premiere, the reimagined version of the panel show “To Tell The Truth,” which averaged 5.21 million viewers, third in its 8-9 p.m. time slot last Tuesday and 18th for the week.
The premiere of the NBC competition series “Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge” averaged 4.84 million viewers, second in its 10-11 p.m. time slot June 13 and 27th for the week.
The week’s most-watched Spanish-language program was Univision’s coverage of Mexico’s 7-0 loss to Chile in a quarterfinal game in soccer’s Copa America Centenario tournament, which averaged 5.41 million viewers, 17th for the week and first among Saturday’s programming.
The game was the week’s seventh most-watched program among viewers ages 18 to 49, behind three NBA Finals games, the 29-minute NBA championship trophy presentation show, and episodes of “Game of Thrones” and “America’s Got Talent.”
Fox News Channel averaged 2.04 million viewers to be the most-watched cable network for the second consecutive week.
As usual, Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network, averaging 2.57 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 1.36 million, followed by UniMas, which averaged 830,000, Estrella TV, which averaged 160,000, MundoMax, which averaged 90,000, and Azteca America, which averaged 70,000.
The “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” edged ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” to be the most-watched network nightly newscast.
The “NBC Nightly News” averaged 7.93 million for its five newscasts for the week, while “World News Tonight” averaged 7.83 million for its three newscasts that were counted toward the weekly average. The Monday and Thursday broadcasts were not included because of pre-emptions and schedule changes because of coverage of the NBA Finals.
“World News Tonight” had finished first for four consecutive weeks.
The “CBS Evening News” was third, as it has been throughout Scott Pelley’s more than five years as anchor, averaging 6.54 million viewers..
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were the ABC’s coverage of Game 7 of the NBA Finals, its 29-minute championship trophy presentation show and Games 6 and 5 of the NBA Finals; NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”; HBO’s “Game of Thrones”; CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” and “NCIS”; NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior”; and CBS’ “NCIS: New Orleans.”
—City News Service