Cable overnights: Records fall on ESPN
April 15, 2016
Wednesday night was all about the NBA on cable.
Games on ESPN and ESPN2 soared to huge viewership as the regular season concluded.
The flagship network’s coverage of the Golden State Warriors’ win over the Memphis Grizzlies, which gave the Warriors the NBA single-season victory mark of 73, averaged 3.65 million total viewers, the league’s best-ever regular-season showing on the network.
Kobe Bryant’s farewell game, in which he scored 60 points, did nearly as well on ESPN2, averaging 3.46 million.
Considering both games started at 10:30 p.m., the showings were even more impressive.
The Warriors contest averaged a 1.6 in adults 18-49, just behind the 1.7 for Bryant and the Lakers.
On local cable, the Warriors game shattered records as well, posting a 23.22 household rating, the best for any NBA game in CSN Bay Area history.
Elsewhere on cable Wednesday, CNN’s “Cruz Family Town Hall” proved much less of a draw than the “Trump Family Town Hall” the night before.
Cruz drew 1.35 million total viewers, compared to 2.15 million for Trump.
Top 10 Cable Programs
|
|||
|
# |
Program |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
NBA REGULAR SEASON L
|
ESPN |
3,649 |
|
2
|
NBA REGULAR SEASON L
|
ESPN2
|
3,465
|
|
3
|
THE OREILLY FACTOR
|
FOXNC
|
2,643
|
|
4
|
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
|
TBSC
|
2,366
|
|
5
|
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
|
TBSC
|
2,265
|
|
6
|
KELLY FILE, THE
|
FOXNC
|
2,224
|
|
7
|
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
|
TBSC
|
2,208
|
|
8
|
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
|
TBSC
|
2,045
|
|
9
|
FAMILY GUY
|
ADSM
|
2,028
|
|
10
|
FAMILY GUY
|
ADSM
|
1,993
|
|
Source: Nielsen |
|||
Top 10 Cable Programs
|
|||
|
# |
Program |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
NBA REGULAR SEASON L
|
ESPN2
|
2,211
|
|
2
|
NBA REGULAR SEASON L
|
ESPN
|
1,999
|
|
3
|
FAMILY GUY
|
ADSM
|
1,305
|
|
4
|
FAMILY GUY
|
ADSM
|
1,288
|
|
5
|
AMERICAN DAD
|
ADSM
|
1,157
|
|
6
|
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
|
TBSC
|
1,040
|
|
7
|
AMERICAN DAD
|
ADSM
|
1,017
|
|
8
|
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
|
TBSC
|
983
|
|
9
|
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
|
TBSC
|
963
|
|
10
|
NBA REGULAR SEASON L
|
ESPN
|
953
|
|
Source: Nielsen |
|||
Tags: cable overnights, donald trump, espn, nba, nba playoffs, nba ratings, sports tv
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