| Scoreboard for Sun. June 8, 2008 |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 8.96 | 7.90 | 6.40 | 3.89 | .98 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 3.5/11 | 1.6/5 | 1.7/5 | 1.7/5 | 0.4/1 |
ABC won the night easily with game two of the NBA finals where the Boston Celtics were blowing out the Los Angeles Lakers only to see the Lakers come on strong near the end. It was not enough and Boston now leads the best of seven game series 2-0.
Remember, these #s are a.) only for the primetime portion of the game through 11pm ET, and the game ran on about another hour, and that b.) preliminary numbers for LIVE events always are fairly worthless anyway. But with that disclaimer for the primetime portion the preliminary numbers have 9.95 million watching the basketball game from 9pm-11pm.
That’s exactly the same result as Thursday night’s overnight numbers for just the primetime portion of the game. Remember, though, when the final numbers came out for the whole game (and not just the primetime portion) it turns out that 13.38 million watched.
If we can use Thursday’s happenings as a proxy — and honestly, we probably can’t, but what the heck, especially with the overnight 9p-11p portion for Sunday’s contest being identical, I’m going to go out on a limb and predict around 13 million viewers when the final numbers are out.
Bold, I know. But same teams, same result (Celtics win) same overnight numbers. Bill and I have a wager on whether the series will average above or below 15 million and I took the under. For now it looks like Bill will be springing for the pulled-pork sandwich at Balboa Cafe, but if the Lakers can win at least two games in LA, Bill might wind up in the catbird seat. You can let us know where you think the ratings for the finals will wind up by participating in our poll.
Update 2:10p PDT: I have yet to see any final numbers but based on the fast-nationals, ABC is saying the game drew 13.5 million from 9:04-11:55pm ET (slightly better than Thursday if it doesn’t change). More from ABC:
Sunday night’s No. 1 TV program in Total Viewers (13.5 million) and across each of the key adult demographics: A18-34 (5.5 rating), A18-49 (5.5 rating) and A25-54 (5.8 rating). It was the 2nd straight telecast for the 2008 NBA Finals to stand as the night’s highest-rated television show in viewers and key adults.
No pretty data table today, but here’s Sunday night’s half-hourly data courtesy of Marc Berman.
So true, Boston sucks on the road this post-season.
How do they know how many people watch the game? I know at two local bars in my town at least 75-100 people are there. Imagine sports bars across the country with this many people. that would mean the viewing number is immense.
Do they account for this as well?
Any report on how the U.S./Argentina soccer match did by comparison?
Sorry Gino, no idea.
The NBA Sucks now! Just like rasheed wallace said the nba is all entertainment! The Pistons should be in the finals! we might have lost but we should be there! Celtics are good but we are clearly better and more experienced hence the 6 strait easters conference championships! The NBA wanted Celtics/Lakers to revive their rivalry and i wish people would realize that! does anyone agree with me???
I agree with you about the nba being fake! (my comment is below) lol and yes the wwe is fake but i still watch it lol the NBA sucks now!
NBA was better on NBC anyways. Better presentation and not fake marketing hype
GO LAKERS!!! WE'RE WINNING TONIGHT…….
I'm really tired of all these NBA conspiracy theories that have no basis whatsoever. It baffles me that people are giving Tim Donaghy credibility when the guy is facing up to 25 years in jail. If you ask me, it all comes down to the fact that NBA fans have simply become very poor losers and feel a need to put the blame their team losing with the refs rather than just admit that the better team won. It's sad really.
The comparison to the WWF is completely ridiculous as well. Viewership is down for the NBA for the same reason that many other primetime ratings are down. The competition for eyeballs is now spread out across many more cable channels. The NBA still has very healthy ratings and the fact that the NBA Finals have jumped up to 13.5 million illustrates that.
LOL…couldnt agree with you guys more…anyone that watches can see the games are fixed and the refs are biased. I wrote about it under the june 5 2008 nielsen ratings comments….. and now this thing with the Ref saying that games were fixed came out over the last 2 days…I love it…proves my point. Once again..Im a heat fan so im not not some ticked off person thinking my team got cheated…. Its just so obvious….just look at the Lakers spurs series when Barry got mugged on that 3 pointer at the buzzer and no call. Kobe gets so many phantom calls that leave you scratching your head….and so many other stars get the same treatment. Im sure even my fave player D Wade gets his share even though I've not seen many personally. The NBA is trying to give the fans what it thinks they want by putting the Lakers vs Celts together while trying to make the best profit it can. You kinda cant blame them for wanting to make the most money possible…it is a business after all, but passing it off as 100% real competition with no help from referees is sad and at the same time pitifully funny….Yes im aware i either just made up my own word or probably spelled it wrong…dont care.
Anyone else think Phil Jackson looks”pitifully” funny crying about how his team got cheated the game before the controversial game 6 and 7 against the kings in 2002. ROFL. Whomever wins the championship this year should bring the refs up on the stage as their 6, 7 and 8th men.
Not only did i stop watching the playoffs when these to teams were the last two, I cant even stand to watch highlights on sports center…. NBA where cheating happens.
Rob/PJ,
I can't yet accept the words of Donaghy, a known felon who is in big trouble and trying to minimize it. I need to let it play out, it's surely going to be investigated. If it turns out that it's true it will be disastrous for the NBA.
That said, I watched the Lakers/Sacramento series he referenced and thought the outcome was criminal at the time, but in fairness, over the course of time I've had that reaction to many different sporting events, finals or no. At least for last night, it didn't seem to have a ratings impact. The final numbers are in and there were 14.51 million viewers last night, a 53% increase over last year's game 3.