Celtics Championship Earns 12.8 Overnight Rating On ABC

TV Viewers Tune In To Watch Celtics Claim 17th NBA Championship

NET GAINS: ABC last week, behind the strength of NBA Finals Games Three-Five, took first place among all broadcast nets in the 18-49 demo, passing Fox, which had won the demo for 22 straight weeks. The series through Game Five was the second-most watched NBA Finals series since ABC started broadcasting the event in '03, behind only the '04 Pistons-Lakers series (AP, 6/17). DAILY VARIETY's Rick Kissell notes ABC last week was "up substantially vs. the same frame a year ago," and ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC as a group were up over '07 for the second consecutive week. Meanwhile, ABC is "hopeful that [audiences] will check out some of the reality skeins it has been promoting" during the Finals, including "Wipeout" and "High School Musical: Get in the Picture" (DAILY VARIETY, 6/18). Sunday's Game Five was the most-viewed broadcast of the week, earning 17.4 million viewers, while Games Three and Four were the second- and third-most viewed, respectively. Also, the three games ranked as the week's top three most-viewed broadcasts in the 18-49 demo (THE DAILY). In San Antonio, Gaylon Krizak writes of ABC's Finals coverage, "I must admit ABC nailed this one. ... When the games are less than exhilarating, the best role for viewers to play is people watching people watching something" (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 6/18).

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