TV Rating: NBA Finals Down Sharply For ABC

Viewership for the first two games of the international NBC Finals series between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors was down sharply from last year’s finals — 28 percent for the first game and 29 percent for the second, the Associated Press reports citing Nielsen data.

While LeBron James fans may point to the star’s absence, geography likely accounts for most of the drop. Toronto’s television audience is not included in the Nielsen ratings, since it’s out of the U.S. Missing one team’s fan base is a huge hurdle for ABC.

The most hopeful sign for ABC is that the teams split the first two games, raising the possibility of a long series. Viewership traditionally increases with competitive series.

ABC won the week in prime time, averaging 5.4 million viewers. NBC had 3.92 million, nipping CBS and its average of 3.91 million. Fox had 2 million viewers, ION Television had 1.4 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Telemundo had 1.1 million and the CW had 650,000.

Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.24 million viewers in prime time. MSNBC had 1.48 million, HGTV had 1.29 million, USA had 1.14 million and Hallmark had 1.12 million.

⏩ According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, here are the 10 most-watched basic cable networks for the week in prime time:

1. Fox News Channel (2,303,000)
2. MSNBC (1,519,000)
3. HGTV (1,308,000)
4. USA (1,131,000)
5. Hallmark (1,111,000)
6. History (1,031,000)
7. A&E (1,010,000)
8. NBCSN (977,000)
9. ESPN (956,000)
10. Investigation Discovery (930,000)

Basic Cable Ranker: Week of... by on Scribd

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.1 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.3 million.

⏩ The Top 20...Primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for May 27-June 2:

1. NBA Finals Game 2: Golden State at Toronto, ABC, 13.89 million.
2. NBA Finals Game 1: Golden State at Toronto, ABC, 13.38 million.
3. “NBA Finals Post-Game” (Sunday), ABC, 9.89 million.
4. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 9.75 million.
5. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.01 million.
6. “NCIS” (Tuesday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 6.14 million.
7. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 6.03 million.
8. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 5.86 million.
9. “NCIS” (Tuesday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 5.58 million.
10. “Songland,” NBC, 5.51 million.

11. NHL Stanley Cup Finals Game 1: St. Louis at Boston, NBC, 5.27 million.
12. “Mom,” CBS, 5.11 million.
13. “American Ninja Warrior,” NBC, 4.84 million.
14. “Life in Pieces,” CBS, 4.8 million.
15. “NBA Countdown” (Thursday), ABC, 4.77 million.
16. “Amazing Race,” CBS, 4.75 million.
17. “The Bachelorette,” ABC, 4.68 million.
18. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 4.52 million.
19. “Blood & Treasure,” CBS, 4.23 million.
20. “Whistleblower,” CBS, 4.14 million.