SKEDBALL: Weekend Sports Ratings — NBA Playoffs Match Last Year’s Second Weekend

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The NBA playoffs continued on three networks this weekend, and the eight games collectively were very close to the comparable games last year (+1% overall).  The two ABC games were the highest-rated by far: a 5.0 household rating for Miami-Milwaukee and 4.1 rating for New York-Boston (in Nielsen’s 56 metered markets that comprise 70% of the country’s TV population).  Most of the other games were in the mid-2 household rating range, with a few time periods up versus last year and an equal number down.  The most notable increase (+38%) was in the TNT Sat 2:15 pm time period, where a triple-overtime game between Brooklyn and Chicago attracted viewers.

NBA

TNT Sat 2:15 pm Brooklyn-Chicago 2.2 rating (+38% for Indianapolis-Orlando 1.6 rating last year ESPN 2:00 pm same day)

TNT Sat 6:15 pm LA Clippers-Memphis 2.4 rating (+9% for Memphis-Clippers 2.2 rating last year ESPN 5:00 pm same day)

ESPN Sat 7:00 pm Indianapolis-Atlanta 1.5 rating (-38% for OKC-Dallas 2.4 rating last year TNT 7:45 pm same day)

ESPN Sat 9:45 pm OKC-Houston 2.5 rating (+32% for San Antonio-Utah 1.9 rating last year TNT 10:15 pm same day)

ABC Sun 1:00 pm New York-Boston 4.1 rating (+17% for Chicago-Philadelphia 3.5 rating last year same day)

ABC Sun 4:00 pm Miami-Milwaukee 5.0 rating (-6% for Miami-New York 5.3 rating last year 3:45 pm same day)

TNT Sun 7:15 pm San Antonio-LA Lakers 2.9 rating (+7% for Atlanta-Boston 2.7 rating last year 7:15 pm same day)

TNT Sun 9:30 pm Denver-Golden State 2.7 rating (-21% for LA Lakers-Denver 3.4 rating last year 9:45 pm same day)

PLAYOFF WEEKEND #2 (8 games) 2.91 average rating (+1% for 2.87 average rating last year)

NASCAR was also a big draw.  The Richmond 400 matched last year’s solid 3.4 rating in prime time Saturday.

NASCAR

FOX Sat 7:45 pm Richmond 400 3.4 rating (no change from 3.4 rating  last year same night)

PGA turned in a mid-1 rating (down significantly from last year).  MLB was up a big 42% from last year, but only to a 1.7 rating for the FOX Saturday games.  Meanwhile, the NHL season quietly closed out to a sub-1 rating, and let us hope X Games Brazil is not a tradition ESPN/ABC wastes a lot of time with.

PGA — Zurich Classic

CBS Sat 3:00 pm Third Round 1.2 rating (-8% from 1.3 rating last year)

CBS Sun 3:00 pm Final Round 1.7 rating (-23% from 2.2 rating last year)

COMBINED WEEKEND COVERAGE 1.5 rating (-17% from 1.8 rating last year)

MLB — Regional Coverage

FOX Sat 1:00 pm 1.7 rating for ATL-DET, PHI-NYM or CIN-WAS (+42% from 1.2 rating last year for MIL-STL or LAA-CLE)

NHL — Final Regular Season Week

NBC Sat 3:15 pm NJ Devils-NY Rangers 0.6 rating (no comparison — no game this week last year)

X GAMES — BRAZIL

ABC Sat 4:00 pm 0.4 rating (no comparison — new event)