Broadcast Weekly and Season Averages

• Tweet
• Email

• Tweet
• Email

Week 39 of the broadcast season (June 11-17) was won handily by ABC with a 3.17 Adult 18-49 rating in prime time, thanks to three high-rated NBA Finals games (Game 1 on Tuesday earned a 6.9 rating, Game 2 on Thursday built to a 7.1, and Game 3 on Sunday came in at a relatively disappointing 6.5 rating in the official nationals).  This week is up a healthy 170% from last week’s 1.17 rating for ABC, without any basketball coverage.    The best comparison for ABC last year is the week of May 30-June 5 (when Games 1-3 of the NBA Finals aired): ABC this past week is up 8% over the week of May 30 last year (2.92), a testament to the health of professional basketball.

FOX finished a distant second this week (1.59 rating), about the same as last week (1.55) and identical to the same week last year (1.59).

NBC finished in third place with a 1.53 rating, up over last week (1.33) but down versus the same week last year (2.03).

CBS, waiting anxiously for Big Brother to arrive, averaged a fourth place 1.05 this week, a touch lower than last week’s 1.10 and near the same week last year (1.07).

The combined 7.33 rating for the four broadcast networks (the numbers don’t always appear to add due to rounding) is up 26% from the same calendar week last year (a 5.84 combined rating the week of June 13, 2011, when the NBA Finals had already ended).  Compared to the week following Memorial Day last year  (when the NBA Finals normally begin), this week is right on track (7.33 combined rating for the week of June 11, 2012 versus a 7.30 for the week of May 30, 2011).

This past week pushed the season average (from September 19 through June 17) to -5.9% behind last year’s pace through 39 weeks.  (Through last week, the season was pacing -6.4% behind last year’s pace.)