ESPN, TNT Opening-Weekend NBA Games Up 25.5% Over Last Year
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TNT's Hawks-Celtics Game One
Coverage Draws 3.4 Million Viewers |
The NBA for the first weekend of NBA Playoff coverage on cable TV averaged 2.9 million viewers for six games on ESPN and TNT, up 25.5% from 2.3 million viewers for the first six games last season. Three of those games also finished in the top 40 for all cable TV broadcasts last week, with TNT's telecast of Hawks-Celtics on Sunday night pulling in 3.4 million viewers. ESPN averaged 3.0 million viewers and a 2.43 coverage area rating for its three-game slate, led by Jazz-Rockets Game One on Saturday night, which earned 3.1 million viewers (2.5 coverage rating). Last season, ESPN averaged 1.9 million viewers (1.62 coverage rating) for three games on the opening weekend of NBA playoff games. On TNT, the net's three games averaged 2.7 million viewers (2.16 coverage rating), even with 2.7 million viewers for three games to open last season's playoffs. The chart below shows viewers for all opening weekend NBA playoff games on cable, with comparisons to the six games which opened the '07 NBA playoffs (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
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NBA OPENING-WEEKEND GAMES ON ESPN
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DATE
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GAME
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VIEWERS (000)
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'07 GAME
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VIEWERS (000)
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VIEWERS
% +/-
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4/19
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Wizards-Cavaliers
|
2,798
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Nets-Raptors
|
1,445
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93.6%
|
|
4/19
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Mavericks-Hornets
|
3,108
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Magic-Pistons
|
1,842
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68.7%
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|
4/19
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Jazz-Rockets |
3,135
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Jazz-Rockets
|
2,348
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33.5%
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NBA OPENING-WEEKEND GAMES ON TNT
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|
4/20
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Raptors-Magic |
1,730
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Wizards-Cavaliers
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1,824
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-5.2%
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4/20
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76ers-Pistons |
2,997
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Nuggets-Spurs
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3,140
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-4.6%
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4/20
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Hawks-Celtics |
3,430
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Warriors-Mavericks
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3,050
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12.5%
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REGIONAL NOTES: Comcast SportsNet New England's broadcast of last Sunday's Hawks-Celtics Game One earned a 7.3 HH rating (175,000 HHs), making it the highest-rated Celtics game on the net since Game Five of the '02 Celtics-Pistons Eastern Conference Semifinal series, which earned a 10.1 HH rating and 234,000 HHs (Comcast)….CSN Philadelphia for last Sunday's 76ers-Pistons Game One drew a 3.0 HH rating (89,200 HHs), up 30% over TNT's coverage in the Philadelphia market, which drew a 2.3 rating (CSN Philadelphia)….Last Sunday's Raptors-Magic Game One drew 218,000 viewers on TSN, down 34% from the Nets-Raptors playoff opener last year, which drew 333,000 viewers on the net (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 4/22).
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