Primetime Ratings: ABC Rolls With NBA Finals

ABC coasted to a massive ratings win Thursday, thanks to Game 1 of the NBA Finals, putting up a 4.8 rating in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 19 share. After Jimmy Kimmel’s pre-game show did a 2.5 and NBA Countdown a 2.7, the game, featuring the Golden State Warriors versus the Cleveland Cavaliers, did a 5.9. That was level with last year’s opener, as 15.7 million total viewers tuned in.

Among the competition, only Fox reached 1.0, that network tallying a 4 share. Beat Shazam fell 8% from its premiere at 1.1, while Love Connection was off 27% from its debut at 0.8.

CBS was at 0.8/3, with repeats leading into TheAmazing Race, which climbed 17% to 0.7.

Airing repeats, NBC had a 0.6/2.

The CW too was in repeats, with a couple Supernatural episodes in prime. It did a 0.2/1.

Among Spanish-language nets, Univision rated a 0.5/2 and Telemundo a 0.4/1.  

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.