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Warriors' Clinching Win Over Rockets Marks ESPN's Most-Viewed NBA Game Since '12

The Warriors' Western Conference Finals-clinching Game 5 win over the Rockets on Wednesday averaged 8.9 million viewers on ESPN, making it the most-watched NBA Playoffs game on any network this season. The game also was the most-watched NBA contest on ESPN since Game 7 of the '12 Heat-Celtics Eastern Conference Finals, and marked ESPN's second-most viewed telecast of the year behind the inaugural CFP Championship. ESPN finished with an average of 7.36 million viewers overall for the five-game series, up from 7.23 million for the six-game Heat-Pacers East Final last year, which aired on both ESPN and ABC. In '13, ABC/ESPN averaged 4.90 million viewers for the Spurs' sweep of the Grizzlies. 

A CAVALIER EFFORT: TNT finished with an average of 6.8 million viewers for the Cavaliers’ sweep of the Hawks in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, flat compared to the net’s six-game Spurs-Thunder series last year. Looking at solely four games, Cavs-Hawks was trending 7% ahead of Spurs-Thunder. Two years ago, TNT averaged 8.4 million viewers for a seven-game Heat-Pacers series. The Cavs’ series-clinching win on Tuesday averaged 6.3 million viewers, including a 35.9 local rating in Cleveland-Akron. That local rating marks TNT’s highest figure on record for a Cavs game in the market. During each night of the ECF, the Cavs-Hawks game and the subsequent “Inside the NBA” telecast were the two most-viewed programs of the night across all of cable TV. Meanwhile, data from Nielsen Social shows each Cavs-Hawks game ranked as the most-discussed program of the night across all TV on Twitter. Streaming for the four games was up 74% for live stream starts, 71% in total minutes consumed and 56% in uniques over ’14.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

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On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

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SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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