Game 2 of the NBA Finals, in which the Celtics beat the visiting Lakers 108-102, and a live Jimmy Kimmel pre-game show put ABC over the top in the ratings Sunday night.
The ABC prime-time lineup, which started with a repeat installment of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” averaged almost 9 million viewers, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. The Alphabet network averaged a 3.5 rating in the key group of 18- to 49-year-old viewers to win the demographic race easily.
CBS averaged nearly 8 million viewers and a 1.6 rating in the 18-49 demo for the night. The highlight for CBS was the second outing of “Million Dollar Password,” which scored the network’s highest demo (2.1 rating) score of the night and very nearly became the network’s most-watched show of the night. “Password” attracted an average 9.635 million viewers following “60 Minutes,” which had 6.642 million viewers and a 1.4 demo rating.
NBC posted an average 6.4 million viewers and a 1.7 in the demo. Fox averaged 3.9 million viewers and a 1.7 demo rating.
The CW’s Sunday lineup of series repeats averaged 982,000 viewers and a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demo. The network scored a 0.5 in its target demo of women 18 to 34.