Basketball continued to roll over the weekend. TNT’s coverage of the 2015 NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 3 on Sunday averaged 7.8 million total viewers and 4.7 U.S. HH rating in Nielsen Fast Nationals. That marked the most-viewed and highest-rated program of the day across all of television (cable and broadcast), based on metered market ratings. The telecast was up 21% in U.S. HH rating and 16% among total viewers over the network’s comparable Conference Finals coverage last year. On the local front, Cavaliers/Hawks contest earned a 32.0 in Cleveland – TNT’s highest rating on record for a Cavaliers game in the metered market – and a 10.1 in Atlanta. Through three games, TNT’s NBA Eastern Conference Finals coverage is averaging 6.9 million total viewers and a 4.3 U.S. HH rating, up 11% and 10% respectively over the network’s comparable live game telecasts a year ago.
ESPN reports that Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Finals delivered an average audience of 6,866,000 viewers on Thursday night, according to Nielsen, for a 49% spike over the last time ESPN televised the equitable game two years ago. The matchup saw a 4.4 household rating (up 42%) and propelled the channel to win the night across all of television (broadcast and cable) across key demos, including M18-34, M18-49, M25-54, P18-34, P18-49 and P25-54. In both the San Francisco and Houston markets, the telecast generated a 15.9 rating. In San Francisco, this is the second-highest rated NBA game (non-Finals) ever in the market. In Houston, it ranks fifth all-time among highest-rated NBA games (non-Finals) in the market.