NBA Playoffs Break Big For ESPN
Network Records Significant Double-Digit Gains With First Three Post-Season Games
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 4/21/2008 9:16:00 AM
NBA playoffs ratings have gotten off to a fast break for ESPN and ABC.
The Walt Disney Co.-owned services, which enjoyed significant growth during the regular-season with their pro hoops telecasts, netted major double-digit gains in four out of five games over the opening post-season weekend.
ESPN notched a 2.1 household average for the first game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards Saturday April 19 at 12:30 p.m. (ET), which marked a 50% improvement from the 1.4 cable rating the New Jersey Nets-Toronto Raptors game produced in that window last year.
Later that night, ESPN scored a 2.4 ratings average with the Dallas Mavericks-New Orleans Hornets contest that tipped at 7 p.m., up 60% from Orlando Magic-Detroit Pistons the prior year. Meanwhile, the nightcap rematch of the opening round series between the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets dunked a 38.9% increase this go-round to a 2.5, from a 1.8.
On broadcast brethren ABC, Saturday afternoon’s double overtime classic in which the San Antonio Spurs edged the Phoenix Suns 117-115 yielded a 3.7 national average in the 3 p.m. window, a 32.1% gain over the first game of the Chicago Bulls-Miami Heat series in 2007.
ABC’s Sunday afternoon game featuring the Los Angeles Lakers’ contest against the Denver Nuggets matched the Lakers-Suns first game a year ago with a 3.9 mark.
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