Photo courtesy: Wikipedia
ABC’s coverage of the 2023 NBA Finals averaged its smallest audience when broadcast during its customary time since 2007, erasing the previous low set a year earlier.
The Denver Nuggets’ five-game victory over the Miami Heat averaged 11.646 million viewers, 5.5% less than the 12.381 million average for the Golden State Warriors’ six-game victory over the Boston Celtics in the 2022 Finals. The series average includes the “Stephen A’s World” alternate presentation of Game 1 on ESPN that averaged 544,000.
Average viewership is typically higher the longer a series goes. Viewership for nearly all programming is down compared to the past, mainly because of increased viewing of streaming programming, including programming originally airing on traditional television.
The 2023 Finals consisted of two teams that did not match Golden State’s star power or Boston’s longtime national following.
ABC has carried the NBA Finals since 2003.
Denver’s title-clinching 94-89 victory June 12 averaged a series-high 13.084 million viewers, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen Wednesday. The previous high was 11.91 million for Miami’s 111-108 victory in Game 2 on June 4, a Sunday when overall television viewing is typically higher.
The only other prime-time program between June 12 and Sunday to average more than 5 million viewers was NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” which averaged 5.963 million viewers.
NBC was first for the week, averaging 3.79 million viewers, thanks in large measure to the 8.8-million average for its 3-hour, 9-minute prime-time portion of Sunday’s final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at the Los Angeles Country Club.
The final-round coverage was not considered a prime-time program because a majority of it ran before the start of prime time, but the viewership was included in the weekly average.
ABC was second after back-to-back first-place finishes, averaging 3.61 million viewers. Its most-watched program outside its NBA Finals coverage was the 8 p.m. Thursday rerun of “Celebrity Family Feud,” which was sixth for the week, averaging 3.342 million viewers.
CBS was third, averaging 2.59 million viewers. “60 Minutes” was its most-watched program, fourth for the week and second among non-sports programs, averaging 4.343 million viewers for an edition with three previously broadcast segments that were updated.
CBS, ABC and NBC all aired 22 hours of prime-time programming.
Fox averaged 1.26 million viewers for its 15 hours, 17 minutes of prime-time programming. Its most-watched program was the professional wrestling program “WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown,” which was 35th for the week, averaging 2.43 million viewers.
The CW averaged 300,000 viewers for its 14 hours of programming. Its most-watched program was a rerun of the magic competition series “Penn & Teller: Fool Us,” which averaged 544,000 viewers, 148th among broadcast programs, one spot below the 10 p.m. June 13 episode of the 1965-71 CBS comedy “Hogan’s Heroes,” which averaged 552,000 viewers on MeTV. Its overall rank was not available.
The 20 most-watched prime-time programs consisted of Game 5 of the NBA Finals and its 32-minute pregame show; the NBC alternative series “America’s Got Talent” and “American Ninja Warrior”; CBS’ “60 Minutes”; reruns of eight CBS scripted series; episodes of five ABC alternative series and its news magazine, “20/20”; and the June 13 edition of the Fox News Channel political talk show “Hannity.”
The most-watched prime-time cable program was the June 13 edition of the Fox News Channel political talk show “Hannity,” which averaged 2.867 million viewers, 19th overall, on the day former President Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 felony charges in connection with his handling of classified documents and alleged attempts to prevent the government from recovering them.
Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable network, averaging 1.533 million viewers, and returned to first among cable news networks, one week after MSNBC ended FNC’s 120-week streak. MSNBC was second, averaging 1.399 million and ESPN third, averaging 1.007 million.
CNN was seventh among cable networks, averaging 640,000 viewers.
The cable prime-time top 20 consisted of 10 Fox News Channel political talk shows — four broadcasts each of “Hannity” and “The Ingraham Angle” and two of “Fox News Tonight” hosted by Brian Kilmeade; seven MSNBC political talk shows — four editions of “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” the June 13 editions of “Alex Wagner Tonight” and “All In with Chris Hayes” and the June 12 edition of “The Rachel Maddow Show”; TNT’s coverage of Game 5 of hockey’s Stanley Cup Final; ESPN’s coverage the June 14 game between the New York Mets and New York Yankees; and the first hourlong segment of the USA Network professional wrestling show, “WWE Raw.”
“Extraction 2” was Netflix’s most-watched title, with viewers watching the Chris Hemsworth-starring action film for 88.4 million hours the first three days it was available, according to figures released by the streaming service.
Netflix’s most-watched television program was “Bloodhounds,” with viewers watching the eight-episode Korean action drama for 65.9 million hours the first full week it was available, 135.9% more than the 27.97 million hours the previous week when it was available for three days.
The most-watched Spanish-language program was Univision’s coverage of the Mexico-United States CONCACAF Nations League semifinal, which averaged 2.286 million viewers, 42nd overall.
Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network for the 45th consecutive week and 183rd time in 185 weeks, averaging 1.24 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 640,000 viewers, followed by UniMas (350,000) and Estrella TV (80,000).
ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was the most-watched nightly newscast for the 237th time in 238 weeks, averaging 7.315 million viewers. “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was second, averaging 5.831 million viewers. The “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell” was third, averaging 4.549 million viewers.
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were ABC’s coverage of Game 5 of the NBA Finals; NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”; the 32-minute “NBA Countdown” pregame show preceding Game 5; CBS’ “60 Minutes” and “FBI”; the 8 p.m. Thursday edition of ABC’s “Celebrity Family Feud” and “20/20”; CBS’ “The Neighborhood”; the 9 p.m. Thursday edition of “Celebrity Family Feud”; and CBS’ “FBI: Most Wanted.”
