ABC drew a 10.2 overnight rating for the Heat’s 98-96 win over the Spurs in Game 2 of the NBA Finals last night from 8:00-11:00pm ET, flat compared to the same matchup last year, which was a shorter game, running from 8:00-10:30pm. The rating also is down 14% from an 11.8 overnight for Heat-Thunder Game 2 in ’12. ABC won the night in primetime, which featured competition from the Tony Awards on CBS. Last night marked the 39th straight time an NBA Finals telecast has delivered a primetime win for ABC. The game peaked at a 13.9 rating during the 10:30-10:45pm window. Game 2 drew a 39.5 local rating in San Antonio and a 30.7 rating in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor). In Ft. Lauderdale, Harvey Fialkov reports the "bulk of the pregame television coverage ... centered around LeBron James' cramps and air-conditioning repair" that highlighted Game 1. Most sports-talk shows "began with a talking head holding a giant thermometer clock to prove that the AC had been fixed and it was a comfortable 72 degrees in the building instead of the balmy 90 degrees that led to James' premature exit from Game 1" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 6/9).
CHANGING TONE: After overnight ratings data originally had the Game 1 audience down from recent years, final data actually showed that the Heat-Spurs opener finished ahead of Game 1 in ’13. Thursday’s Game 1 finished with a 9.0 rating and 14.85 million viewers, up 2% and 4%, respectively, from an 8.8 rating and 14.24 million viewers for Game 1 last year. The 9.0 rating also marks the best figure for an NBA Finals opener since ’04 (Karp).
