ABC led all NBA weekend playoff telecasts with a 5.0 overnight Nielsen rating for the Celtics' series-clinching Game Four of their First Round playoff series against the Knicks in the late window on Sunday, up 9% from a 4.6 overnight for Game Four of the Cavaliers-Bulls series last year. In the early window, the net earned a 4.0 overnight for Heat-76ers Game Four, up 29% from Celtics-Heat Game Four last year. TNT through Sunday's games is averaging a 2.7 U.S. rating and 4.3 million viewers, up 35% and 39%, respectively, from the same point last postseason. TNT has an audience decline for only three of its 17 playoff windows to date. The net is also seeing big gains among all key adult and male demos. Meanwhile, ESPN is also seeing big gains through the first week of games. The net's seven NBA Playoff telecasts to date have averaged 3.6 million viewers, up 23% from 2.9 million viewers during the same period last year. Among the top 40 most-viewed telecasts on all of cable TV last week, 13 telecasts were NBA Playoff games. TNT's Lakers-Hornets Game Four led all NBA telecasts with 6.3 million viewers on Sunday night. ESPN's most-viewed game was Lakers-Hornets Game Three on Friday night with 4.6 million viewers (Austin Karp, THE DAILY). USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand notes it "helped ratings that the Hornets won Sunday and extended their series with the Lakers to at least six games." Hiestand: "The more Lakers games against anybody, the better for ratings" (USA TODAY, 4/26).
WHAT A NIGHT: Comcast SportsNet Chicago posted its highest ever local rating in the Chicago market last Thursday. The net earned a combined 25.3 local rating for its coverage of Bulls-Pacers Game Three, Game Five of the Blackhawks-Canucks Western Conference Quarterfinal and White Sox-Rays, which aired on CSN+. The net earned a 13.7 local rating for the Bulls game and a 10.6 local rating for the Blackhawks game, both of which set records (CSN).
SEEN IT ALL BEFORE: In Oklahoma City, Mel Bracht writes TNT analyst Mike Fratello's NBA coaching experience "added to his insightful commentary" during last night's Thunder-Nuggets Game Four. Sideline reporter Pam Oliver noted that Thunder F Kevin Durant and G Russell Westbrook "had a heated exchange during a timeout late in the second quarter," but Fratello said that it "was no big deal." Fratello: "A lot of times words are exchanged, especially during the playoffs" (DAILY OKLAHOMAN, 4/26).
GOING DIGITAL: NBA.com also saw growth in video streams, unique visitors and page views during the first week of the '11 playoffs. The site registered 114 million video views (+93%), seven million daily unique visitors (+69%) and more than 344 million page views (+32%), according to NBA internal data. NBA Mobile also saw gains during the same period. The NBA GameTime App downloads were up 86%, according to combined data from Apple, Google and Research In Motion (Karp).
