ABC finished with 16.47 million viewers for NBA Finals Game 3, which saw the Cavaliers beat the Warriors by 30 points. The viewership figure is down 12% from 18.77 million viewers for the same matchup last year. Through three games, ABC is averaging 17.7 million viewers for the Finals, which have all been blowouts. That figure is down 5% from the same point last year, but up 19% from 14.921 million viewers for the Spurs-Heat series in '14. ABC also extended its primetime win streak for nights with NBA Finals telecasts to 51 nights.
CIRCUIT BREAKER: ESPN/ABC likely had its lowest Summer X Games audience on record last weekend, as organizers at Circuit of the Americas in Austin was forced to cancel the competition's two marquee Big Air events. The two nets combined to average 588,000 viewers across six telecasts, down sharply from 650,000 viewers last year and 694,000 viewers in '14.
|
SUMMER X GAMES AUDIENCE TREND
|
|
YEAR
|
NETWORKS
|
TELECASTS
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
|
'16
|
ESPN/ABC
|
6
|
588
|
|
'15
|
ESPN/ABC
|
7
|
650
|
|
'14
|
ESPN/ABC
|
7
|
694
|
|
'13
|
ESPN/ABC
|
6
|
658
|
|
'12
|
ESPN/ESPN2/ABC
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
|
'11
|
ESPN, ESPN2, ABC
|
9
|
1,039
|
|
'10
|
ESPN/ESPN2
|
8
|
988
|
|
'09
|
ESPN/ABC
|
5
|
1,362
|
|
'08
|
ESPN, ESPN2, ABC
|
6
|
1,434
|
|
'07
|
ESPN, ESPN2, ABC
|
6
|
1,297
|
|
|
|
|
|
NOTES: Fox averaged 2.5 million viewers for its regional MLB coverage last Saturday night, marking its best audience figure this season to date....ABC on Sunday drew 1.4 million viewers for the second race of the Verizon IndyCar Series Chevy Dual in Detroit, while Saturday's first race averaged 1.01 million viewers. Both telecasts saw a 20% hike in viewership compared to the same race last year....ESPN2's "Mike & Mike" averaged 267,000 viewers last month, marking the show's second-best audience for May on record, behind only '11. It was the 13th straight month of year-over-year growth for the morning show....TBS averaged 386,000 viewers for the second week of its ELeague competition, which ran from 10:00pm-12:30am ET last Friday. The May 27 ELeague debut, which was a four-hour telecast that lasted until around 2:15am, averaged 255,000 viewers. The primetime portion of the telecast also drew 516,000 viewers (10:00-11:00pm), up from 509,000 last week.
The chart below lists final audience figures from select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE |
NET |
TIME (ET) |
RAT. |
VIEWERS (000) |
| NBA Finals: Cavaliers-Warriors: Game 2 |
6/2 |
ABC |
9:00-11:40pm |
11.1 |
19,197 |
| NBA Finals: Cavaliers-Warriors: Game 2 |
6/5 |
ABC |
8:00-10:43pm |
9.8 |
17,489 |
| NBA Western Conference Finals: Warriors-Thunder: Game 7 |
5/30 |
TNT |
9:01-11:31pm |
8.9 |
15,996 |
| NHL Stanley Cup Final: Sharks-Penguins: Game 2 |
5/30 |
NBC |
8:11-11:00pm |
2.3 |
4,081 |
| PGA Tour: The Memorial: Third Round |
6/5 |
CBS |
2:30-6:30pm |
2.1 |
3,156 |
| NHL Stanley Cup Final: Penguins-Sharks: Game 3 |
6/4 |
NBCSN |
8:08-11:34pm |
1.5 |
2,789 |
| NHL Stanley Cup Final: Sharks-Penguins: Game 2 |
6/1 |
NBCSN |
8:08-11:15pm |
1.4 |
2,507 |
| MLB: (regional) |
6/4 |
Fox |
7:12-10:21pm |
1.6 |
2,471 |
| PGA Tour: The Memorial: Third Round |
6/4 |
CBS |
3:00-6:00pm |
1.5 |
2,133 |
| French Open: Men's Final: Novak Djokovic-Andy Murray |
6/5 |
NBC |
9:00am-2:00pm |
1.4 |
1,996 |
| French Open: Women's Final: Garbine Muguruzu-Serena Williams |
6/4 |
NBC |
9:00am-2:30pm |
1.1 |
1,475 |
| NASCAR Xfinity Series: Pocono Green 250* |
6/4 |
Fox |
1:00-2:15pm |
1.0 |
1,400 |
| Verizon IndyCar Series: Chevrolet Dual in Detroit: Race 2 |
6/5 |
ABC |
3:30-6:00pm |
0.9 |
1,397 |
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Axalta "We Paint Winners" 500 (Pocono; rainout coverage)* |
6/5 |
FS1 |
1:00-4:00pm |
n/a |
1,377 |
| MLB: Giants-Cardinals |
6/5 |
ESPN |
8:00-11:16pm |
n/a |
1,357 |
| French Open: Men's Semis |
6/3 |
NBC |
11:00am-2:00pm |
0.8 |
1,069 |
| MLB: Dodgers-Cubs |
5/31 |
ESPN |
8:00-11:40pm |
n/a |
1,027 |
| Verizon IndyCar Series: Chevrolet Dual in Detroit: Race 1 |
6/4 |
ABC |
3:30-6:00pm |
0.7 |
1,013 |
| Soccer: Copa America Centenario: Jamaica-Venezuela |
6/5 |
Fox |
4:49-7:04pm |
0.6 |
1,000 |
| College Softball World Series: Michigan-Florida State |
6/5 |
ESPN |
1:00-3:08pm |
n/a |
976 |
| X Games (Austin) |
6/5 |
ABC |
12:00-3:30pm |
0.7 |
955 |
| X Games (Austin) |
6/4 |
ABC |
12:00-3:30pm |
0.7 |
930 |
| P&G Men's Gymnastics Championships |
6/5 |
NBC |
2:00-4:00pm |
0.7 |
850 |
| "NASCAR Pre-race" |
6/4 |
Fox |
12:30-1:00pm |
0.6 |
799 |
| Soccer: Copa America Centenario: Costa Rica-Paraguay |
6/4 |
Fox |
4:47-7:12pm |
0.5 |
731 |
| "Copa America Pregame" |
6/4 |
Fox |
4:00-4:45pm |
0.4 |
597 |
| Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship |
6/5 |
NBC |
4:00-6:00pm |
0.5 |
545 |
| Lucas Oil Off Road Racing |
6/4 |
CBS |
2:00-3:00pm |
0.4 |
535 |
| "Copa America Pregame" |
6/5 |
Fox |
4:00-4:45pm |
0.3 |
523 |
| Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship |
6/4 |
NBC |
4:00-6:00pm |
0.3 |
506 |
| Red Bull Global Rallycross (taped) |
6/4 |
NBC |
2:30-4:00pm |
0.3 |
463 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| NOTE: * = Race was shortened due to rain. ** = Race rained out on Sunday, run on Monday on FS1. |
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