Green Giants: Celtics-Pistons Game Five Up 59% Over '07 Game

ESPN Earns 5.1 Coverage Area Rating For Wednesday's Pistons-Celtics Game Five

ESPN earned a 5.1 coverage area rating (6.4 million viewers) for Wednesday night's Pistons-Celtics Eastern Conference Finals Game Five, up 59.4% from the comparable 3.2 coverage rating (4.0 million viewers) for the Jazz-Spurs Western Conference Finals Game Five last year. Wednesday's game marked ESPN's third-most-viewed NBA telecast ever (THE DAILY).

ESPN NETS SEE RECORD MONTH: ESPN2 and ESPNEWS each posted its best May ever, averaging more HHs on a total-day basis than any previous May. In addition ESPN's 24-hour audience grew 21% over last year, and was the second largest for the month in the net's history. ESPN's jump is due in large part to increased audiences for the NBA Playoffs, MLB and "SportsCenter." In addition, ESPN also set viewership marks in male demos 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 (ESPN).

HOORAY FOR MAY: TNT saw an increase in HHs from last May, as the NBA Playoffs led the network to a 5.9% jump. For MLB, each major cable partner also saw an increase for May, as ESPN, TBS and WGN saw gains. Golf Channel was the only sports network to see a significant decline in May. The chart below shows average HHs for the month of May for select cable networks (THE DAILY).

CABLE NET AVERAGES FOR THE MONTH OF MAY
NET	PRIMETIME HHs (000)	'07 (000)	% +/-	FULL DAY HHs (000)	'07 (000)	% +/-
TNT	2,257	1,976	14.2%	1,123	1,060	5.9%
ESPN	1,432	1,134	26.3%	701	577	21.5%
TBS	1,254	1,065	17.7%	733	652	12.4%
Versus	437	259	68.7%	116	79	46.8%
ESPN2	389	391	-0.5%	230	211	9.0%
Speed	313	259	20.8%	144	125	15.2%
WGN	251	238	5.5%	198	169	17.2%
Golf Channel	99	118	-16.1%	68	73	-6.8%
ESPNews	66	67	-1.5%	59	59	0.0%