ABC earned a 12.6 overnight Nielsen rating for the Mavericks’ 112-103 win over the Heat in last night’s NBA Finals Game Five, down 1.6% from a 12.8 overnight for Lakers-Celtics Game Five last year, which aired on a Sunday night. Thursday night’s overnight was still high enough to mark the second-best Game Five over the last seven seasons, and was up 25% from a 10.1 overnight for Heat-Mavericks Game Five in '06. Heat-Mavericks was the top-rated program for the night and led ABC to a win in primetime among all networks. NBA Finals telecasts have now been the highest-rated program for the night 24 straight times. The game peaked at a 16.3 rating from 11:30-11:45pm ET. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale earned a 32.7 local rating to lead all U.S. metered markets and Dallas-Ft. Worth earned a 31.9 rating (THE DAILY). In Miami, Barry Jackson noted WPLG-ABC's local ratings in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale market for the first four games of the Finals "easily surpassed the 18.3 average rating for Dolphins games last season." However, the 26.7 local rating WFAA-ABC earned in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market for Sunday's Game Three was "three points below average Cowboys ratings" (MIAMI HERALD, 6/10).
PUT ME IN, COACH: USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand writes ESPN/ABC should sign former Lakers coach Phil Jackson "as its NBA lead analyst to replace Mark Jackson, who's leaving to coach" the Warriors. Jackson, "usually mediagenic and sometimes enigmatic, could team with candid analyst Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen in a refreshingly original three-man booth" (USA TODAY, 6/10).
KEEP UP THE FIGHT: The MIAMI HERALD's Jackson notes ESPN's Stuart Scott and ESPN Radio's Jack Ramsay, who are both working the Finals, are both "undergoing chemotherapy, with Ramsay receiving his through oral medication." Scott and Ramsay both have "dealt with cancer before." Ramsay is "battling brain cancer, which he confronted in 2006." Scott "declined to discuss the nature of his cancer." Scott: "I got the tumors out in January. Now chemotherapy is killing anything that's in there" (MIAMI HERALD, 6/10).
INTERNATIONAL INTRIGUE: The FINANCIAL TIMES' David Gelles notes 315 members of the international media "are attending the NBA finals." The games are "being televised in 215 countries, translated into 46 languages, and will be available on mobile devices in 200 countries." The "surge in international interest in the NBA has translated into serious cash for the league," which "makes an estimated $430M, or a 10th of overall revenues, from international operations." Gelles notes, "More than half of that, an estimated $250M a year, comes from international distribution deals." With markets such as China and Europe "showing signs of maturity, the NBA has set its sights on new emerging markets." The league "struck deals to broadcast games in the Middle East [in] recent years, and Al Jazeera Sport sent a television crew from its headquarters in Qatar to cover the finals." The NBA also is "in the midst of its inaugural year of broadcasts in India, where it is working with partners [to] develop the sport there" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 6/10).
