Local Broadcast Television Draws Record Ratings for NBA Finals Game 7
TVB’s Lanzano Says Ratings Confirms Viewers Overwhelmingly Prefer
Local Broadcast Television for Live Sports Events
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The TVB (www.tvb.org),
the not-for-profit trade association of America’s local broadcast
television industry, today issued the following statement from TVB
President and CEO, Steve Lanzano, on the ratings performance for the
2016 NBA Finals Game 7 between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State
Warriors:
“Like LeBron James, local broadcast television continues to put up the
big numbers with Cleveland’s historic win on Sunday in Game 7 of the
2016 NBA Finals being ABC’s most watched game ever as it attracted an
average of 20.2 million viewers. Game 7 drew 31.0 million total viewers
with an 11.3 rating among adults 18-49, up +18% from the 26.3 million
viewers generated during the last Game 7 in 2013. Sunday’s game was the
most watched winning-game of the NBA Finals on any network since 1998,
peaking at a tremendous 44.5 million viewers in the final minutes and
becoming the third most watched telecast on television in 2016 after the
Super Bowl (111.9 million) and Academy Awards (34.4 million)
demonstrating once again that live broadcast TV dominates in delivering
ratings performance.
“In addition to huge national ratings, Game 7 was a massive draw on
local affiliate stations in the Cavaliers’ and Warriors’ hometown
markets, with 46% of television households in Cleveland and 39% of homes
in San Francisco tuning in to watch the game. The markets that generated
the third and fourth highest viewership ratings were Columbus, Ohio
(30%) and Miami, Florida (24%) – LeBron’s former hometown market. Most
notably, local household ratings of Game 7 far exceeded the national
viewership ratings with Cleveland and San Francisco outpacing the
national average by 188% and 150%, respectively. Game after game and
season after season, ratings data confirms that local broadcast
television remains the preferred outlet for live sports. Local network
affiliated stations consistently draw the most viewers in the live
sports category, providing marketers with a unique opportunity to
optimize the results of their brand promotion, when fans are highly
engaged with this immensely popular programming.”
About TVB:
TVB
is the not-for-profit trade association of America’s local broadcast
television industry.
Contacts
Media:
TVB
Angela Sundstrom, 212-891-2274
angela@tvb.org
or
JCIR
Joseph
Jaffoni / Jennifer Neuman, 212-835-8500
tvb@jcir.com
