Primetime Ratings: ABC Thrives on NBA Finals

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ABC crushed all comers Thursday with the NBA finals, riding Game 1 of Warriors-Cavaliers to a landslide 4.3 in viewers 18-49 across prime, per the Nielsen overnights, and an 18 share. In second was NBC at 0.9/4.

The Warriors won the game in overtime. The Jimmy Kimmel pre-game rated a 2.5 and NBA Countdown did a 3.0. The game itself rated a 5.1.

Last year’s Game 1, also featuring Golden State and Cleveland, scored a 5.9.

NBC had repeats of America’s Got Talent and World of Dance.

CBS weighed in at 0.8/3 with repeated comedies, then a SWAT rerun at 10.

Fox was at 0.5/2, with repeats of MasterChef and Beat Shazam.

Univision too did a 0.5/2 while Telemundo rated a 0.4/2.

The CW posted a 0.2/1 with repeats of Supernatural and Black Lightning.

Michael Malone
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.