Drawing ratings here similar to those delivered by University of Georgia football games, and higher than for Hawks playoff games, the NBA Finals scored big with Atlanta TV viewers.
The Golden State Warriors’ championship-clinching victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 on Tuesday night posted a 19.0 Nielsen rating in Atlanta, meaning 19 percent of the market’s households tuned in on average. The series as a whole averaged a 16.7 rating here, well above the national average.
Among the nation’s 56 largest local TV markets, the Atlanta rating ranged from fifth highest for Game 3 (17.0) to 11th highest for Game 5 (16.4).
The ratings continued a trend, dating many years, of strong NBA Finals ratings in the Atlanta TV market.
By comparison, this season’s NBA Eastern Conference finals, featuring the Hawks against the Cavaliers, averaged an 11.4 rating in Atlanta. UGA football ratings vary sharply depending on opponent and time of the telecast, but a rating in the high teens would be typical for a regular-season game against a marquee opponent.
Nationally, ABC’s coverage of the Warriors-Cavaliers series averaged an 11.6 rating, the highest for the NBA Finals since 2002.
Tuesday’s Game 6 drew a 13.4 rating nationally, including ratings above 40 in the markets of the participating teams: 42.0 in Cleveland and 40.7 in San Francisco.
Atlanta’s 19.0 rating for Game 6 represented a local audience of about 444,000 homes.
The rating is the percentage of TV-equipped households tuned in on average during a program.
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