Final Nielsen Ratings: NBA Playoffs Off To Strong Start; IndyCar At Long Beach Down

Last weekend marked the start of the NBA Playoffs, and TNT's Sunday tripleheader earned a 2.8 U.S. rating and 4.5 million viewers, marking the net's best opening day of the playoffs in 27 years of televising the NBA. Those figures were also up 27% and 36%, respectively, from '10. TNT was tops among all nets on Sunday night in the adult 18-34 and 18-49 demos. ABC averaged a 3.4 rating and 5.3 million viewers for its two NBA playoff telecasts last weekend, up 17.2% and 18.5%, respectively, from a 2.9 rating and 4.4 million viewers for the net's first two telecasts last year. ESPN's Saturday tripleheader averaged a 2.2 rating and 3.4 million viewers, up 10.0% and 14.7%, respectively, from a 2.0 rating and 3.0 million viewers last year.

AUTO ZONE: Fox topped all sports telecasts last weekend with a 5.2 final Nielsen rating for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Aaron's 499 from Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. That rating is flat compared to the same race last year. ESPN2 finished with a 1.8 U.S. rating for Saturday's Nationwide Series Aaron's 312, up from a 1.1 rating for the race last year, which aired on a Sunday afternoon following the Sprint Cup race due to a Saturday rainout. Versus last Sunday aired the Izod IndyCar Series Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, averaging 323,000 viewers, down 34% from 490,000 viewers for the race last year.

Listed below are final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts. All ratings listed are U.S. ratings (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).

CUP FEVER: Root Sports averaged a 16.5 local rating in Pittsburgh for Monday's Penguins-Lightning Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Game Three. The rating was "neither a top 10 all time for a playoff broadcast or among the three highest Round 1 games," but it "nearly doubled the average for regular-season Penguins broadcasts" (PITTSBURGHLIVE.com, 4/20)....NESN averaged a 10.7 local rating in Boston for Monday's Bruins-Canadiens Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Game Three, marking the net's highest-rated Bruins playoff game that was not a Game Seven (NESN)....Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic earned "peak TV ratings of 9.16 in the D.C. market and 4.97 in the Baltimore market during overtime" of the Capitals' double-OT win over the Rangers in Wednesday's Game Four of their series, "meaning about 273,000 homes in [the] area were tuned in." Three of the net's "highest-rated Caps games already have happened during this series, which will almost certainly be the best-rated Caps playoff series in CSN history" (WASHINGTON POST, 4/20)....FS Arizona averaged a 2.5 local rating and 45,065 HHs in Phoenix for Wednesday's series-clinching Red Wings-Coyotes Western Conference Quarterfinals Game Four, marking the net's highest-rated Coyotes telecast of the season (FS Arizona).

JUST FOR KICKS: ESPN2 averaged a 2.8 local rating in Portland for last Thursday's MLS Fire-Timbers broadcast, the highest local rating the broadcast earned in the U.S. The game averaged a 0.3 local rating in Chicago and a 0.2 U.S. rating, which was "on par with ESPN2's broadcast of a Philadelphia-Toronto MLS game that aired on the corresponding Thursday last year" (OREGONLIVE.com, 4/19)....ESPN Deportes earned a 9.4 Hispanic household coverage rating, 483,000 Hispanic HHs and 524,000 Hispanic male viewers 18+ for last Saturday's FC Barcelona-Real Madrid match. The game was the second-most-watched-telecast ever on the net, behind a November '09 matchup between the two teams that earned 512,000 Hispanic HHs (ESPN Deportes).