Despite San Antonio’s drubbing of Oklahoma City, TNT tallied almost 7 million viewers to its coverage of Game 5 of the NBA’s Western Conference Finals.
TNT netted a 4.3 U.S. household rating for its May 30 presentation of the Spurs’ 117-89 stomp of the Thunder, translating into 6.94 million viewers, according to Nielsen data. That made it the top show on cable last night.
Coupled with the 2.6 overnight mark for the Emmy Award-winning Inside the NBA, TNT delivered the two highest-rated and most-viewed shows on cable on Thursday night. Inside the NBA’s performance nearly doubled the show’s average through the first two rounds of the NBA postseason, according to network officials.
TNT’s San Antonio-OKC telecast peaked with a 5.1 rating and 8.3 million total viewers.
The network’s exclusive coverage of the 2014 NBA Western Conference Finals -- even though there have been four lopsided contests – has averaged 6.43 viewers and a 4.0 rating through five games, up 31% and 29% when compared to ESPN’s 4.89 million viewers and 3.1 mark last year, when the Spurs swept the Memphis Grizzlies. Under the NBA current national TV contracts, TNT and ESPN/ABC alternate coverage of the conference finals on annual basis.
With two possible playoff games remaining – the home court team has prevailed in all five Spurs-Thunder contests so far – TNT has averaged 4.52 million viewers over 44 contests, up 1% from 4.46 million watchers at the comparable stage of the pro hoops league's 2013 postseason.
TNT’s playoffs' presentations have propelled the network to win the night 19 times among total viewers and 23 times among males 18 to 34 and 18 to 49.
