Sunday’s collision of NBA Eastern Conference powerhouses, in which the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James defeated the Boston Celtics and Kyrie Irving 121-99, helped ABC generate its highest-rated NBA Sunday Showcase presented by the United States Marine Corps broadcast since 2015, according to metered market ratings from Nielsen.
The broadcast delivered a 3.6 metered market rating, up 57 percent from last year’s San Antonio-New York game (2.3). It peaked at a 4.0 from 5:15-5:30 p.m. and again from 5:45-6 p.m. ET. The Cavaliers-Celtics game now stands as the fourth-highest rated NBA broadcast of the 2017-18 season, across all networks.
Sunday’s broadcast drew a 20.5 rating in the Cleveland market and an 8.1 rating in the Columbus market. The rest of the top five markets include Norfolk (6.5), Dayton (6.2), and Birmingham (5.5). It drew a 5.5 rating in the Boston market.
Through two games, ABC’s NBA Sunday Showcase series is averaging a 2.7 metered market rating this season, up 27 percent from a 2.1 last year.
-30-