NBA Finals Game 5 tops prime-time, although viewership drops from last year

ABC’s coverage of the 2023 NBA Finals averaged its smallest audience when held during its customary time since 2007, erasing the previous low set a year earlier.

The Denver Nuggets’ five-game victory over the Miami Heat averaged 11.65 million viewers, 5.5% less than the 12.38 million average for the Golden State Warriors’ six-game victory over the Boston Celtics in the 2022 Finals. The series average includes the “Stephen A’s World” alternate presentation of Game 1 on ESPN that averaged 544,000.

Denver’s title-clinching 94-89 victory June 12 averaged a series-high 13.08 million viewers, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen on Wednesday. The previous high was 11.91 million for Miami’s 111-108 victory in Game 2 on Sunday, June 4.

The 2023 Finals consisted of two teams that did not match Golden State’s star power or Boston’s longtime national following. ABC has carried the NBA Finals since 2003.

The only other prime-time program between June 12 and Sunday to average more than 5 million viewers was NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” which averaged 5.96 million viewers.

NBC was first for the week, averaging 3.79 million viewers, thanks in large measure to the 8.8-million average for its three-hour, nine-minute prime-time portion of Sunday’s final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at the Los Angeles Country Club.

ABC was second after back-to-back first-place finishes, averaging 3.61 million viewers. Its top-rated program outside the NBA Finals coverage was the 8 p.m. Thursday rerun of “Celebrity Family Feud,” which was sixth for the week, averaging 3.34 million viewers.

CBS was third, averaging 2.59 million viewers. “60 Minutes” lead its ratings and was fourth for the week — second among non-sports programs — averaging 4.34 million viewers for an edition with three previously broadcast segments that were updated.

Fox averaged 1.26 million viewers for its prime-time programming. Its highest-ranked program was professional wrestling‘s “WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown,” which was 35th for the week, averaging 2.43 million viewers.

The CW averaged 300,000 viewers. Its biggest draw was a rerun of the magic competition series “Penn & Teller: Fool Us,” which averaged 544,000 viewers, 148th among broadcast programs.

The top 20 prime-time programs consisted of Game 5 of the NBA Finals and its 32-minute pregame show; the NBC series “America’s Got Talent” and “American Ninja Warrior”; CBS’ “60 Minutes”; reruns of eight CBS scripted series; episodes of five ABC alternative series and its news magazine, “20/20”; and the June 13 edition of the Fox News Channel political talk show “Hannity.”

The top rated prime-time cable program was “Hannity,” which averaged 2.87 million viewers, 19th overall, airing on June 13, the day former President Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 felony charges in connection with his handling of classified documents and alleged attempts to prevent the government from recovering them.

Fox News Channel won the cable network race, averaging 1.53 million viewers, and returned to first among cable news networks one week after MSNBC ended FNC’s 120-week streak. MSNBC was second, averaging 1.4 million and ESPN third, averaging 1.01 million. CNN finished seventh among cable networks, averaging 640,000 viewers.

The cable prime-time top 20 consisted of 10 Fox News Channel political talk shows — four broadcasts each of “Hannity” and “The Ingraham Angle” and two of “Fox News Tonight” hosted by Brian Kilmeade; seven MSNBC political talk shows — four editions of “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell,” the June 13 editions of “Alex Wagner Tonight” and “All In With Chris Hayes” and the June 12 edition of “The Rachel Maddow Show”; TNT’s coverage of Game 5 of hockey’s Stanley Cup Final; ESPN’s coverage of the June 14 game between the New York Mets and New York Yankees; and USA Network’s “WWE Raw.”

“Extraction 2” was Netflix’s most-streamed movie, with viewers watching the Chris Hemsworth-starring action film for 88.4 million hours the first three days it was available, according to figures released by the streaming service.

Netflix’s most popular program was “Bloodhounds,” with viewers watching the eight-episode Korean action drama for 65.9 million hours the first full week it was available, 135.9% more than the 27.97 million hours the previous week when it was available for three days.