ABC earned a 9.6 final Nielsen rating and 16.1 million viewers for Tuesday night's Heat-Mavericks Game Four of the NBA Finals, down 3.0% and 1.5%, respectively, from a 9.9 rating and 16.4 million viewers for Lakers-Celtics Game Four last year. The audience on Tuesday ngiht was still high enough to mark the second-most viewed NBA Finals Game Four since '04. The telecast was the top program in primetime on Tuesday, and gave ABC a win for the night over NBC, which aired an original episode of "America's Got Talent" and the first live episode of "The Voice." Through four games, ABC is averaging a 9.2 rating and 15.5 million viewers, down slightly in ratings and flat in viewership compared to last year. This year's Heat-Mavericks series is also up 16.5% and 30.2%, respectively, from the Heat-Mavericks matchup in '06 (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
| NBA FINALS ON ABC THROUGH FOUR GAMES |
| YEAR | MATCHUP | RATING | VIEWERS (000) |
| '11 | Heat-Mavericks | 9.2 | 15,536 |
| '10 | Lakers-Celtics | 9.3 | 15,522 |
| '06 | Heat-Mavericks | 7.9 | 11,934 |
| '04 | Pistons-Lakers | 11 | 17,026 |
| | | | |
PRIME NUMBERS: DAILY VARIETY's Rick Kissell noted ABC "cruised to a primetime ratings victory last week behind the opening three games of the NBA Finals." Mavericks-Heat "dominated," as last Tuesday's Game One averaged a 6.5 rating in the adults 18-49 demo, last Thursday's Game Two averaged a 6.5 rating in the demo and Sunday's Game Three averaged a 6.1 rating. The games also were "tracking at a seven-year high for the Finals, with all three contests topping the 15 million viewer mark." Kissell noted ABC for the week in primetime "led with ease" in the adults 25-54 demo, averaging a 3.1 rating, and in average viewers, as its 7.7 million viewers beat out second-placed CBS' 6.6 million (
VARIETY.com, 6/8).
MARKET GAINS: In Oklahoma City, Mel Bracht reports there has been an "increased interest in the NBA" in the market "since the arrival of the Hornets in 2005 and the Thunder in 2008." KOCO-ABC is averaging a 13.3 local rating for Mavericks-Heat, up 102% from last year's Lakers-Celtics series and marking "record ratings for the NBA Finals" for the station. Regular-season ratings also were "up substantially from last season." TNT averaged a 1.4 local rating in Oklahoma City for its telecasts, up 133% from a 0.8 during the '09-10 season, while FS Oklahoma averaged a 3.2 local rating for its Thunder telecasts, up 52% from a 2.1 (
DAILY OKLAHOMAN, 6/9). In Atlanta, Tim Tucker reports WSB-ABC is averaging a 12.9 local rating in the market for Mavericks-Heat. By contrast, ESPN averaged a 3.4 local rating in Atlanta for Sunday's Braves-Mets game, and SportSouth averaged a 3.1 local rating for Tuesday's Braves-Marlins game, both of which "aired partly overlapping the NBA" (
ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 6/9).
