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NBA Playoffs Open With a Ratings Bang for ABC

Apr 19, 2017  •  Post A Comment

ABC set a ratings record on its opening weekend of the NBA playoffs. The network’s coverage Sunday of Game 1 of the Golden State-Portland series delivered a live audience of 6.624 million total viewers, including the linear channel and streaming, to become ABC’s most-watched game ever in the opening weekend of the NBA playoffs, the network announced.

The game peaked with an average of 9.139 million viewers from 5:45-6 p.m. ET.

The game was up 22% from the equivalent game a year ago, featuring Cleveland vs. Detroit, which averaged 5.436 million total live viewers.

“On television, the game drew 6,519,000 average viewers (p2+) with an additional average minute streaming audience of 105,400 viewers,” ABC noted.

“Through five games, viewership for the 2017 NBA Playoffs on ESPN and ABC is up 8 percent, averaging 3,957,000 total live viewers, compared to 3,662,000 last year. On television, the five games averaged 3,865,000 viewers, up 8 percent from 3,589,000 viewers last season. It was also ESPN’s most-streamed NBA Playoffs opening weekend ever, with an average minute audience of 91,800 viewers, 303,900 average unique viewers and 71,616,500 total minutes streamed,” ABC Sports and ESPN announced.

The networks noted the following highlights:

  • ESPN’s opening weekend tripleheader averaged a total live audience of 2,976,000 average viewers, up 11 percent from 2,676,000 viewers last year;
  • ABC’s two opening weekend games averaged a total live audience of 5,382,000 average viewers, up 5 percent from 5,137,000 viewers last year.

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