Fast National ratings for Sunday, June 17, 2012.
The third game of the NBA Finals was another tight showdown between the Heat and Thunder and gave ABC another comfortable ratings win, pushing the network past US Open-boosted NBC on Sunday night.
Through three games, this is ABC’s highest rated NBA Finals series since 2004.
[Note that with two networks airing live sporting events in primetime for much, but not all, of the country, Sunday ratings are particularly inexact and subject to change.]
For the night, ABC averaged a 4.8 rating among adults 18-49, beating NBC’s 2.1 rating by a wide margin in the key demographic. FOX’s 1.2 rating and the 0.8 rating for CBS trailed.
Overall, ABC averaged an estimated 11.49 million viewers to go with a 6.6 rating/12 share, far ahead of NBC’s 5.4/10 and 8.78 million viewers for Sunday night. CBS was a distant third with 5.39 million viewers and a 3.6/6, with FOX’s 1.6/6 and 2.69 million viewers trailing.
[Univision averaged 2.66 million viewers and a 1.0 rating among adults 18-49 for Sunday night.]
7 p.m. – NBC started primetime in first with 10.08 million viewers and a 2.4 rating among adults 18-49 for coverage of the 2012 US Open Golf Championship. CBS was second overall with 7.345 million viewers for “60 Minutes,” which was third with a 1.0 key demo rating. ABC’s NBA Finals pre-game was third with 5.84 million viewers and a close second with a 2.3 key demo rating. FOX’s repeats of “American Dad” and “The Cleveland Show” averaged 1.885 million viewers and a 0.9 key demo rating.
8 p.m. – ABC moved into first for the 8 p.m. hour with the start of Game 3 averaging 10.89 million viewers and a 4.4 rating among adults 18-49. NBC’s US Open coverage averaged 8.82 million viewers and a 2.1 key demo rating in second. CBS’ repeat of “Blue Bloods” was third overall with 5.035 million viewers and fourth with a 0.7 key demo rating. On FOX, repeats of “The Simpsons” and “Bob’s Burgers” averaged 2.725 million viewers and came in third with a 1.2 key demo rating.
9 p.m. – The basketball game was up to 13.65 million viewers and a 5.7 rating among adults 18-49 for ABC in the 9 p.m. hour. NBC’s golf coverage was also up, averaging 9.39 million viewers and a 2.2 key demo rating. There was a huge drop to CBS’ repeat of “The Good Wife” in third overall with 4.22 million viewers and a dismal fourth with a 0.5 key demo rating. FOX’s “Family Guy” and “American Dad” repeats averaged 3.45 million viewers and a 1.5 key demo rating.
10 p.m. – The Heat and Thunder helped ABC to 15.59 million viewers and a 6.6 rating among adults 18-49 for the 10 p.m. hour. NBC’s golf and a repeat of “Betty White’s Off Their Rockers” averaged 6.81 million viewers and a 1.8 key demo rating in second. CBS’ repeat of “The Mentalist” averaged 4.97 million viewers and a 0.8 key demo rating.
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change, particularly in the case of live events.