NBA Finals This Week's Top Shows
- by Ken Liebeskind , June 13, 2001
Each of the three games won a 22 or 23% audience share. The closeness of the games and the intense rivalry between the two teams and their star players, which has been thoroughly reported, is contributing to the high numbers.
"It's great news for advertisers and fans who have hung in there during the three year turnaround period from the post lockout to the end of the Michael Jordan era," says NBC spokeswoman Cameron Blanchard.
The first three games of last year's finals scored 18 to 20 shares. This year's numbers are about 18% higher.
Game 3 ranked first, suggesting future games may score even higher for NBC. "You can't predict, but the longer it goes and the more competitive it is, the more viewers you're likely to see," Blanchard says.
For the week, NBC had 11.4 million viewers (7.7, 14), CBS had 9.3 million (6.7, 12), ABC had 7.3 million (5.0, 9), Fox had 5.9 million (3.9, 7), UPN had 3.2 million (2.1, 4), the WB had 2.5 million (1.8, 3) and Pax TV had 1.4 million (1.0, 2).
For the week of June 4-10, the top 10 shows, their networks and ratings: NBA Finals Game 3: L.A. Lakers at Philadelphia, NBC, 12.7; NBA Finals Game 1: Philadelphia at L.A. Lakers, NBC, 12.4; NBA Finals Game 2: Philadelphia at L.A. Lakers, NBC, 11.6; "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (Tuesday), ABC, 10.3; "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 9.7; "48 Hours" (Monday), CBS, 9.4; "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (Sunday), ABC, 9.2; "48 Hours," CBS, 9.1; "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 9.0; "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.8.
NBC led the way with a 14 share for the week, followed by CBS with 12 and ABC with nine. Fox scored seven with the other networks, Pax, UPN and WB much lower.
Season to date numbers show CBS with a slight lead with a 14 share, followed by ABC and NBC with 13 and Fox with 10.
Getting back to basketball, NBA commissioner David Stern is wasting no time in taking advantage of the high Nielsen Media Research television ratings for the finals. With the first three games of the NBA 2001 finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers showing improvement from the 2000 finals, Stern is demanding the league get a new television contract before the "calendar is up" and that it be at a "significant increase."
The NBA is in the third year of its four-year $2.64 billion television deal with NBC Inc. and America Online Timer Warner Inc.'s Turner Network Television (TNT) and Turner Broadcasting Station (TBS). The deal runs out at the end of the 2001-2002 season, but NBA and AOL have a exclusive thirty-day negotiating period in September 2001.
Many thought the league would have trouble getting a deal since the ratings have been sagging for the last five years in the postseason and regular season, since NBA legend Michael Jordan retired. But with the 2001 finals ratings the highest since Jordan's departure, Stern seems to think he is back in the driver's seat.
"We are very pleased," Stern said, "and I think this shows the NBA is still a huge part of America's sporting scene."
NBC and AOL acknowledged the increase, but refused to comment on the television contract.
