We have this press release from ESPN comparing the viewership of this year’s Finals to the last time Miami and Dallas met in the NBA’s penultimate games back in 2006. Well, of course viewership is going to be up. We’re seeing more viewers year-to-year. Comparing this year to 2006 is really apples and oranges and the TV landscape was different even five years ago.
The better comparison is to last year and Sports Media Watch notes that viewership is up 3% from 2010. We have your press release from ESPN.
NBA Finals 2011 on ABC Up In Viewership Through Two Games
The NBA Finals on ABC are averaging 15,347,000 viewers through two games, up 28 percent over the 2006 Finals average of 11,964,000 (when Dallas and Miami previously met) and up three percent in viewership over last year’s average of 14,913,000 (Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics), according to Nielsen. The dramatic Game 2 – in which Dallas pulled off a thrilling fourth quarter rally to defeat Miami 95-93 — averaged a 9.3 rating, the highest rating for an NBA Finals Game 2 in seven years.
Additionally, the 9.3 rating marked a 16 percent increase over the 8.0 rating for the 2006 NBA Finals Game 2 (Miami/Dallas) and a one percent increase over last year’s 9.2 Game 2 (Los Angeles Lakers/Boston) rating. The game was the highest-rated program of the night on all television, marking the 21st consecutive time an NBA Finals game was the highest-rated program on its respective night. The game also helped lead ABC to win the night for all of television.
The Finals on ABC continue with Game 3 Sunday, June 5, at 8 p.m. ET. Mike Breen calls The Finals on ABC with analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy and reporter Doris Burke. The Finals are also available on ESPN Radio (Mike Tirico and Hall of Famers Dr. Jack Ramsay and Hubie Brown) and ESPN 3D (Mark Jones and Bruce Bowen for Game 2). Coverage will begin with the NBA Countdown pregame show at 7:30 p.m., hosted by Stuart Scott with Hall of Famer Magic Johnson and analysts Jon Barry and Michael Wilbon.
That is your press release.
