With Celtics' Stomper, ABC Scores Big

[duncan228]

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Sports_TV_52/With_Celtics_stomper_ABC_scores_big.asp

With Celtics' stomper, ABC scores big

Sees ratings soar over six games of the NBA finals
By Lisa Snedeker

Offseason acquisitions Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen helped revive the Boston Celtics, and the Celtics helped revive the NBA.

Garnett, Allen and Paul Pierce led the Celtics to their first NBA title in 22 years last night, walloping the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 for the largest margin of victory in final-game history.

The victory capped a remarkable turnaround. Led by its trio of all-stars, the Celtics became the first team ever to win the title after not even making the playoffs the previous year.

But ABC may have seen an even better one-year turnaround.

One year after the NBA finals posted their lowest average ever, the network saw huge gains in viewership, thanks to a series matching the league’s two most storied franchises, from two of the nation’s top TV markets.

Final ratings including the decisive game six will be out late this afternoon. But for the five games played through Sunday, the finals series was up 56 percent over last year among total viewers, from 9.3 million to 14.5 million, and a stunning 61 percent in adults 18-49, from 3.7 to 5.9.

Game five registered the highest rating for any finals contest since 2005, averaging a 7.2 18-49 rating and 17.3 million total viewers, also making it the summer’s highest-rated program.

The series has been particularly strong among young men, who also drove year-to-year NBA playoff ratings gains on cable during April and May. Game five boosted ABC to its highest-rated Sunday among men 18-34 in almost three years, excluding Super Bowl and Academy Awards nights. It was the best Sunday in nearly a year and a half among men 18-49 and 25-54.

The series had a lot going for it, perhaps most importantly the fact that neither squad was the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs have won four titles in the last decade but they’ve also set two records for worst-ever ratings, including last year’s matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers, because they have the image of being a dull team.

That’s certainly not the case for the Celtics, who won the franchise’s 17th NBA title, or LA, which has won nine. This series was full of surprises, both on and off the court.

The matchup began with allegations that Paul Pierce, who left game one with what appeared to be a serious knee problem only to return minutes later, was faking an injury.

In later games, Boston Red Sox pitcher and prolific blogger Curt Schilling criticized league MVP and Lakers leading scorer Kobe Bryant for displaying bad sportsmanship to his teammates, and Lakers coach Phil Jackson complained about the refereeing.

Meanwhile, the NBA itself was fighting off allegations by a disgraced former ref that it rigged a series a few years ago, a story that caught fire in the blogosphere and on sports radio.

[Red Hawk #21]

David Stern and Co. got what they wanted...

[xtremesteven33]

Bigger rating mostly due to bigger cities.

bad marketing also for the Spurs has given them the "boring" name tag

[dbreiden83080]

And those ratings are down from what expectations were on a whole

[baseline bum]

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Sports_TV_52/With_Celtics_stomper_ABC_scores_big.asp

With Celtics' stomper, ABC scores big

Sees ratings soar over six games of the NBA finals
By Lisa Snedeker

Offseason acquisitions Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen helped revive the Boston Celtics, and the Celtics helped revive the NBA.

Garnett, Allen and Paul Pierce led the Celtics to their first NBA title in 22 years last night, walloping the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 for the largest margin of victory in final-game history.

The victory capped a remarkable turnaround. Led by its trio of all-stars, the Celtics became the first team ever to win the title after not even making the playoffs the previous year.

But ABC may have seen an even better one-year turnaround.

One year after the NBA finals posted their lowest average ever, the network saw huge gains in viewership, thanks to a series matching the league’s two most storied franchises, from two of the nation’s top TV markets.

Final ratings including the decisive game six will be out late this afternoon. But for the five games played through Sunday, the finals series was up 56 percent over last year among total viewers, from 9.3 million to 14.5 million, and a stunning 61 percent in adults 18-49, from 3.7 to 5.9.

Game five registered the highest rating for any finals contest since 2005, averaging a 7.2 18-49 rating and 17.3 million total viewers, also making it the summer’s highest-rated program.

The series has been particularly strong among young men, who also drove year-to-year NBA playoff ratings gains on cable during April and May. Game five boosted ABC to its highest-rated Sunday among men 18-34 in almost three years, excluding Super Bowl and Academy Awards nights. It was the best Sunday in nearly a year and a half among men 18-49 and 25-54.

The series had a lot going for it, perhaps most importantly the fact that neither squad was the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs have won four titles in the last decade but they’ve also set two records for worst-ever ratings, including last year’s matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers, because they have the image of being a dull team.

That’s certainly not the case for the Celtics, who won the franchise’s 17th NBA title, or LA, which has won nine. This series was full of surprises, both on and off the court.

The matchup began with allegations that Paul Pierce, who left game one with what appeared to be a serious knee problem only to return minutes later, was faking an injury.

In later games, Boston Red Sox pitcher and prolific blogger Curt Schilling criticized league MVP and Lakers leading scorer Kobe Bryant for displaying bad sportsmanship to his teammates, and Lakers coach Phil Jackson complained about the refereeing.

Meanwhile, the NBA itself was fighting off allegations by a disgraced former ref that it rigged a series a few years ago, a story that caught fire in the blogosphere and on sports radio.

So basically, it was the highest rated Finals since Spurs-Pistons.

[CubanMustGo]

So basically, it was the highest rated Finals since Spurs-Pistons.

You won't see anyone actually admit that!

Ratings got higher as the series progressed because so many people wanted to see the Lakers get their ass kicked.

[spursfan09]

Gee well maybe next time they have a small market team winning multiple championships they well market them alittle better and not refer to them as "boring" every chance they get. As a spur fans I don't care about ratings or anything obviously. I am glad the Spurs are champs no matter who watched. But if I was the commissioner and I had this team that no one outside of their city really cared about I would at least try to do a good job to market them and try to bring as much revenue as I can.

[Extra Stout]

This is probably the most blatant case I've seen of an L.A.-based writer simply spinning the crappy NBA Finals ratings into something they're not, just to get a gratuitous slam in on the San Antonio Spurs.

Through five games, the best possible matchup for ratings the NBA Finals could possibly have had generated a 9.0 rating. The last time the Lakers were in the Finals, in 2004, the series got an 11.5.

Game 6 had fewer viewers than America's Got Talent on NBC.

These are the fifth-lowest-rated Finals since returning to live broadcast in 1982.

Why the lies?

[duncan228]

Celtics-Lakers' Game 6 earns best Finals TV ratings since 2000

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/basketball/nba/specials/playoffs/2008/06/18/finals.ratings.ap/index.html

[Extra Stout]

Celtics-Lakers' Game 6 earns best Finals TV ratings since 2000

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/basketball/nba/specials/playoffs/2008/06/18/finals.ratings.ap/index.html
What is with this full-court press to lie and mislead?

One might read the headline and come away thinking Game 6 was the highest-rated Finals game since 2000.

Nonsense. It only pulled a 10.7.

The trick is that it is the highest-rated Game 6 since 2000, the other ones being in 2003, '05, and '06.

[duncan228]

What is with this full-court press to lie and mislead?

I think it's all part of marketing. They saturated us with ads on the "renewed rivalry" of Boston and LA as the Finals approached. Now they're trying to convince us how successful the Finals were. Most casual fans won't read more than the headline.

[ShoogarBear]

I knew this was going to happen.

No matter how crappy the games were, the media spin is that they're "exciting".

No matter how run-of-the-mill the Celtics' style of play, it will be "exciting" compared to the Spurs.

And no matter how disappointing the ratings, especially given the tremendous hype machine rolled out before they started, they will represent a huge "success".

For all the bitching about how arrogant David Stern is, the media falls in lockstep right with him.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

:lmao

FAIL

Who are they trying to fool? Those aren't that high. And they arbitrarily pick comparative ratings that pretty much mean nothing.

Nothing indicates the country really gives a shit about NBA basketball and they never will for a long time. The 7.0 + ratings from that authentic performance from friggin GOLF! of all sports on a friggin Monday morning put the Stern bullshit into perspective.



The NBA has been a 2nd rate sport to Americans ever since Jordan , Bird-Magic days...


What an insult to NBA fans. I'm glad Bird said he didn't give a shit.

Under Stern the NBA = NHL
and that's fucking sad.
Screw ABC.

[Gino]

Game 6 draws best NBA finals ratings since 2000

4 hours ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Game 6 drew the highest NBA finals television ratings in eight years.

The Boston Celtics' deciding victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night earned a 10.7 rating on ABC, the network said Wednesday. It's the highest since Game 6 of the 2000 finals on NBC between the Lakers and Indiana Pacers.

The series averaged a 9.3 rating, up 50 percent over the 6.2 last year, when the San Antonio Spurs swept the Cleveland Cavaliers. But it fell short of the last finals involving the Lakers in 2004, which averaged an 11.5.

The rating is the percentage watching a program among homes with televisions.

Im not looking to make enemies here, but the ratings for this series are obvioulsy very good compared to last year.

[Spur-Addict]

I don't care how many people watch as long as we win. Honestly, the masses knew we'd win that's why the ratings were low.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

Im not looking to make enemies here, but the ratings for this series are obvioulsy very good compared to last year.

The series last year could make WNBA playoff ratings look good.
That Spurs-Lebron fiasco was hard to stomach from even the most diehard fans.

It was literally a Varsity team v. A Talented Young Man surrounded by four kindergardeners.

Game 3 was the worst of that series and an insult to people flipping through the channels.


I really don't care about "ad money' for the networks or "popularity" or whatever, but I do find it annoying that Stern and the parrot NBA fans, blame the Spurs for abysmal ratings, when the NBA's irrelevance is a much larger issue. It really comes down to authentic competition and manipulative marketing that nobody buys.


the way the NBA has completely gone to irrelevant is both amusing because of Stern and the Media jockeys, as well fucking pathetic.

[pawe]

Oh shit, another finals next year with Boston as a lock.

[ShoogarBear]

Im not looking to make enemies here, but the ratings for this series are obvioulsy very good compared to last year.

Clearly, they would have been better if it had been Lakers vs. Detroit.

[1Parker1]

The ratings are better because the NBA marketing team actually went all out about a month or so before the Finals even started anticipating this. Late game starts ensure more people will be home to watch, those Jimmy Kimmel promos before games, those "Old school Celtics vs. Lakers" historical drama ads, etc.

I don't ever remember the Spurs vs whoever they have played in the Finals get this much hype and advertising by the NBA marketing team.

[Extra Stout]

Im not looking to make enemies here, but the ratings for this series are obvioulsy very good compared to last year.
That's not saying very much. Cleveland didn't even show up last year.

[Extra Stout]

My guess is that ABC is going to try to convince its advertisers that the sole reason their NBA ratings have been so weak is because of the Spurs, and that the only reason Celtics-Lakers didn't pull a 15 is because of the casual fan's residual disgust.

[Harry Callahan]

The ratings are better because the NBA marketing team actually went all out about a month or so before the Finals even started anticipating this. Late game starts ensure more people will be home to watch, those Jimmy Kimmel promos before games, those "Old school Celtics vs. Lakers" historical drama ads, etc.

I don't ever remember the Spurs vs whoever they have played in the Finals get this much hype and advertising by the NBA marketing team.

ABC and ESPN people like Mike Greenberg were practically encouraging people NOT to watch the finals last year (in part due to the misguided "Suns got screwed" mantra from the Disney clowns. I was amazed at the open hostility displayed by those people toward the matchup as well as the Spurs in '07.

By the way, total viewers were lower in part because SA WON IN A SWEEP - only four games and this writer was totaling five games for this year (I think).

I frankly saw a lot of bad basketball in the finals this year (mainly from LA).

[duncan228]

It gets better everyday...

Finals ratings top June programs
The six NBA Finals games were the highest rated programs in June
The ratings were up over 50 percent from last year's Spurs-Cavs series

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/basketball/nba/06/19/finals.ratings.ap/index.html

[ShoogarBear]

I frankly saw a lot of bad basketball in the finals this year (mainly from LA).

Oh, the basketball was by and large awful. But none of the national media have the journalistic integrity to say that.

[Extra Stout]

It gets better everyday...

Finals ratings top June programs
The six NBA Finals games were the highest rated programs in June
The ratings were up over 50 percent from last year's Spurs-Cavs series

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/basketball/nba/06/19/finals.ratings.ap/index.html
Wow, that isn't true either.

[duncan228]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-tvratingstext18-2008jun18,0,3725415.story

CBS on a TV ratings win streak
The NBA Finals help ABC take the top three slots.

ABC's coverage of the NBA Finals swept the top three places among the week's prime-time programs, but CBS had each of the next six most-watched programs, helping it win the ratings race for the third time in the three weeks of television's summer season.

CBS averaged 7.19 million viewers for its prime-time programming between June 9 and Sunday, topped by a rerun of the comedy "Two and a Half Men," fourth overall with 10.72 million viewers, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The week's most-watched program was ABC's coverage of Game 5 of the NBA Finals, which averaged 17.39 million viewers, the most for an NBA game since Game 7 of the 2005 finals between the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs. Through five games, the series between the Lakers and the Boston Celtics is averaging 14.6 million viewers, the most since 2004 and 57% more than last year's Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the San Antonio Spurs.

CBS' coverage of Sunday's 62nd annual Tony Awards tied for 28th for the week, averaging 6.27 million for the three-hour, two-minute telecast opposite Game 5 of the NBA Finals in most of the nation, a slight increase from the record low of 6.22 million for last year's telecast, which competed for viewers with the much-anticipated finale of the HBO organized crime drama "The Sopranos" and Game 2 of the NBA Finals in much of the nation.

[m33p0]

anybody got a pic of that ratings championship trophy? :rolleyes

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-tvratingstext18-2008jun18,0,3725415.story

CBS on a TV ratings win streak
The NBA Finals help ABC take the top three slots.

ABC's coverage of the NBA Finals swept the top three places among the week's prime-time programs, but CBS had each of the next six most-watched programs, helping it win the ratings race for the third time in the three weeks of television's summer season.

CBS averaged 7.19 million viewers for its prime-time programming between June 9 and Sunday, topped by a rerun of the comedy "Two and a Half Men," fourth overall with 10.72 million viewers, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The week's most-watched program was ABC's coverage of Game 5 of the NBA Finals, which averaged 17.39 million viewers, the most for an NBA game since Game 7 of the 2005 finals between the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs. Through five games, the series between the Lakers and the Boston Celtics is averaging 14.6 million viewers, the most since 2004 and 57% more than last year's Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the San Antonio Spurs.

CBS' coverage of Sunday's 62nd annual Tony Awards tied for 28th for the week, averaging 6.27 million for the three-hour, two-minute telecast opposite Game 5 of the NBA Finals in most of the nation, a slight increase from the record low of 6.22 million for last year's telecast, which competed for viewers with the much-anticipated finale of the HBO organized crime drama "The Sopranos" and Game 2 of the NBA Finals in much of the nation.
This seems more objective.