TV Ratings: ABC wins Sunday with another big NBA Finals audience

Mavericks and Heat continue to be a big summer draw

By Daniel Fienberg Monday, Jun 6, 2011 11:54 AM

Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat drives towards the basket in Sunday's NBA Finals game

Credit: AP

Fast National ratings for Sunday, June 5, 2011.

Another competitive NBA Finals game between the Mavericks and the Heat came down to a tense fourth quarter and carried ABC to an easy ratings win on an otherwise slow (and probably MTV Movie Awards-skewed) Sunday evening.

Among adults 18-49, ABC averaged a 4.6 rating, beating the combined tallies for FOX (1.5 rating) and CBS and NBC (1.0 ratings) in the key demographic.

Overall, ABC averaged an estimated 11.68 million viewers for the night to go with a 7.0 rating/12 share. CBS was a distant second with a 4.1/7 and 6.43 million viewers. NBC was third with a 2.7/5 and 4.27 million viewers, ahead of the 1.8/3 and 3.23 million for FOX.

7 p.m. - CBS started primetime in first overall with an estimated 9.36 million viewers for "60 Minutes," which also finished second with a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's NBA Finals pre-game was second overall with 5.98 million viewers and finished first with a 2.1 key demo rating. "Dateline NBC" was third with 3.74 million viewers, topping FOX's "American Dad" and "Bob's Burgers," which averaged 2.21 million.

8 p.m. - ABC grabbed the primetime lead in the 8 p.m. hour with 11.75 million viewers and a 4.6 rating in the key demo for the start of the Mavericks and Heat. CBS was a distant second with 5.73 million viewers for "CSI: Miami." FOX's "The Simpsons" and "The Cleveland Show" averaged 3.57 million viewers and beat the 2.92 million viewers for NBC's repeat of "Minute To Win It."

9 p.m. - Game Three of the NBA Finals improved to 13.67 million viewers and a 5.5 key demo rating for ABC in the 9 p.m. hour. NBC moved up to second overall with 5.11 million viewers for an encore of last week's "America's Got Talent" premiere. CBS' "Undercover Boss" finished third with 4.55 million viewers. FOX was fourth overall with 3.91 million viewers for "Family Guy" and "American Dad," which came in second for the hour with a 1.8 demo rating.

10 p.m. - The 10 p.m. hour of the NBA Finals was all the way up to 15.3 million viewers and a 6.3 demo rating for ABC. CBS' "CSI: Miami" was second overall with 6.07 million viewers. NBC's "America's Got Talent" repeat was third with 5.31 million viewers and second with a 1.4 rating in the key demo.

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.

Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor

A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.