NBA playoff games on TNT and ESPN accounted for five of last week’s seven most-watched prime-time programs, topped by TNT’s coverage of the decisive seventh game of the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks, according to live-plus- same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.
An average of 6.906 million viewers — the most for an NBA game this season — watched Milwaukee’s 115-111 overtime victory Saturday that ousted Brooklyn, the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference.
TNT’s coverage of the Atlanta Hawks’ 103-96 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Sunday averaged 6.162 million viewers, second both among prime-time programs airing between June 14 and Sunday and NBA games this season.
TNT’s NBA playoff coverage made it the week’s most-watched network, broadcast or cable, averaging 3.493 million viewers. NBC was second, averaging 3.2 million. Its viewership was bolstered by the 96-minute overrun of its coverage of the final round of golf’s U.S Open into primetime Sunday that averaged 8.8 million viewers.
The overrun is not considered a separate program but is included in the weekly average.
CBS was third overall, averaging 2.71 million viewers, followed by ABC, which averaged 2.67 million.
Fox News Channel was fifth overall and second among cable networks, averaging 2.14 million. ESPN was sixth overall and third among cable networks, averaging 1.665 million viewers.
Each of the top six networks each broadcast 22 hours of prime-time programming.
Fox was seventh, averaging 1.45 million viewers for its 15 hours, 51 minutes of prime-time programming.
The CW again was fifth among the five major English-language broadcast networks, averaging 570,000 viewers for its 12 hours of programming.
ABC’s “Celebrity Family Feud” was the most-watched entertainment program, averaging 5.402 million viewers, third for the week, for games matching the families of “Fox NFL Sunday” host Terry Bradshaw and Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider, followed by the pop rock band OneRepublic and the cast of the FX drama “Mayans M.C.”
“America’s Got Talent” dropped to 11th following back-to-back first- place finishes, averaging 4.205 million viewers for an hourlong episode beginning at 10 p.m. in most of the nation, two hours later than its two-hour episodes. The later start was the result of NBC’s coverage of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials.
“60 Minutes” was fourth for the week following back-to-back second- place finishes, averaging 4.887 million viewers opposite the U.S. Open runover in the Eastern and Central time zones where the bulk of the nation’s population lives. Viewership was down 24.9% from its 6.511 million average the previous week.
Fox’s most-watched program was the cooking competition “Hell’s Kitchen,” 54th for the week averaging 2.601 million viewers.
The CW’s most-watched program was the crime drama “Walker,” which averaged 987,000 viewers, putting it 115th among broadcast programs. Its overall rank was not available.
The premiere of ABC’s “The Celebrity Dating Game” was 46th for the week and third in its 10 p.m. time slot June 14, averaging 2.751 million viewers.
The other premiere on the five major broadcast networks, The CW drama “The Republic of Sarah,” averaged 464,000 viewers, tying for 193rd place among programming on broadcast television. Its time slot and overall finish were not available.
For the second consecutive week, the most-watched Spanish-language program was an episode of the Univision telenovela “Si nos dejan,” whose Monday episode averaged 1.706 million viewers, 53rd among broadcast programs. Its overall rank was not available.
Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network for the 81st consecutive week and 83rd time in 84 weeks, averaging 1.3 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 950,000 viewers, followed by UniMas (540,000), Estrella TV (110,000) and Azteca America (40,000).
ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was the most-watched network nightly newscast for the 81st consecutive week, the 132nd time in 133 weeks and the 184th time in 186 weeks, averaging 7.717 million viewers.
“NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was second, averaging 6.017 million viewers, followed by the “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell,” which averaged 4.774 million viewers.
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were TNT’s coverage of the final games of the Brooklyn Nets-Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks- Philadelphia 76ers NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series; ABC’s “Celebrity Family Feud”; CBS’ “60 Minutes”; ESPN’s coverage of Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference semifinal series between the Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz; TNT’s coverage of Game 5 of the Brooklyn-Milwaukee series; ESPN’s coverage of Game 6 of the Brooklyn-Milwaukee series; ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and CBS’ “NCIS” tied for ninth; and ESPN’s coverage of Game 6 of the Atlanta-Philadelphia series was 10th.
