NBC's coverage of Game Three of the NBA Finals last
night earned a 12.4/21 Nielsen overnight rating, and in
Dallas, Kevin Blackistone writes that there was "much
rejoicing, no doubt," at NBC following the Knicks victory:
"With the next two games in New York, suddenly, the series
has legs" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/22). In Dallas, Bart
Hubbuch: "Somewhere, NBC executives are smiling, maybe even
breathing again" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/22).
EBERSOL SAID HE SAW IT COMING: NBC's coverage of Game
Two earned a 9.6/19 national Nielsen rating, which was 42%
below last year's Game Two rating of a 16.6/31. The game
did attract 32 million viewers, helping NBC win the night in
prime time viewership (NBC). The game was the lowest rated
NBA Finals game since '94's Knicks-Rockets Game Five earned
an 8.0 on the same night as the O.J. Simpson car chase.
Other than that '94 game, no prime time game has rated lower
than Game Two since the '78 Sonics-Bullets series (AP,
6/22). USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke reports that NBC's ratings
after two games "were off a whopping 39% to 10.6, the lowest
in 15 years" (USA TODAY, 6/22). In N.Y., Don Kaplan notes
that last year's Game Two brought NBC an estimated 53
million viewers, but this year's Finals are averaging 35
million. NBC Sports Chair Dick Ebersol: "My thought was
we'd be off 25 to 30 percent. When it's all over, if it
goes six games, we'll be right there" (N.Y. POST, 6/22).
Ebersol: "The 39 percent drop is in line with people
thinking it will be a four-game sweep. I always think in
terms of six-game series, although I'd agree that it'll
probably take a miracle to get six" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/22).
A CANADIAN DROP-OFF, AS WELL: In Toronto, Chris
Zelkovich reports that Game One drew "only 377,000 viewers"
on CTV in Canada, making it "the lowest-rated prime time
show in CTV's schedule last week." CTV averaged 706,000
viewers for the NBA Finals in '98 and 636,000 viewers for
the '97 Finals (TORONTO STAR, 6/22).
STERN SAW IT COMING, TOO: NBA Commissioner David Stern,
on the ratings drop: "It's not alarming to me. The reality
is that in last year's Finals, particularly, people tuned in
to see the last dance of one of the greatest talents ever,
and so we expected an enormous fall-off as the playoffs went
on" (S.A. EXPRESS-NEWS, 6/22). Stern: "The number of
households that have television continues to increase. A
rating point continues to generate even more households than
previously." Stern said he hasn't seen "the quarter hours
(ratings breakdown), but sometimes people turn off games
because ... they are not exciting" (ROCKY MTN NEWS, 6/22).
CRITICS CORNER: In N.Y., Bob Raissman writes that
"anyone tuning into the series may have found good reason to
tune out. The quality of play hasn't been anything to get
excited about. Add this to the fact that this Finals isn't
exactly a big time matchup and you can see why ratings are
headed south." Raissman writes that Stern "must answer two
questions. Are the poor ratings just an isolated case
concerning a non-marquee series? Or are they a serious
symptom that something is seriously wrong with the NBA?"
(N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/22). Also in N.Y., Richard Sandomir:
"The new reality for NBC is that after a decade of Jordan as
high-rated prime-time entertainment, San Antonio versus New
York is boring America." Sandomir adds that no World Series
game "has rated below an 11.3 during the same period that
NBC has carried" the NBA (N.Y. TIMES, 6/22). DAILY VARIETY's
Tom Bierbaum writes that the late start date for the Finals
has forced the NBA Finals to "a lower-viewership portion of
the summer" (DAILY VARIETY, 6/22).
