Cavs Warriors Finals - H 2015
AP ImagesAnother dramatic overtime game brought more growth for the NBA Finals. Game 2 of the series brought anther 25 percent, year-over-year jump to the ABC telecast — with Cleveland’s victory over the Golden State Warriors bringing in a 12.8 overnight rating.
That’s almost the same as the preliminary score that Thursday’s opener fetched, before ultimately pulling nearly 18 million viewers (and a 6.9 rating among adults 18-49) with the final numbers. Following Game 1, it is again the highest-rated overnight showing for a Game 2 since ABC started airing the championship.
The 2015 NBA Finals now stand as the first to go into overtime for both of the first two games.
All of the increased competition did not help the Tonys. CBS’ annual telecast of the Broadway kudos were down a touch from last year’s audience — averaging 6.3 million viewers, off from 7 million in 2014, per Fast National returns. The key demo of adults 18-49 is where the telecast was really hurt, falling three-tenths of a point to a 0.9 rating. (If that number stands, it will be an all-time low for the show.)
On the bright side, the Tonys were in better shape than NBC’s Sunday drama block. A.D.: The Bible Continues (0.7 adults) fell two-tenths of a point ahead of a mostly steady American Odyssey (0.4 adults). A new Golan the Insatiable took a 0.4 rating with adults 18-49 on Fox.
