2015 NBA Draft Lottery Delivers Best-Ever Overnight Rating on ESPN
- Second-Highest Average Minute Audience Ever for an NBA Game on WatchESPN
NBA Western Conference Finals Game 1 exclusively on ESPN, in which the Golden State Warriors defeated the Houston Rockets in a hotly-contested game, delivered a 5.4 overnight rating, peaking with a 6.5 from 11:30 p.m. – 11:45 p.m., according to Nielsen. This is up 38 percent from a 3.9 for Game 1 in 2013 (San Antonio-Memphis on ABC), which is the last time ESPN presented the Western Conference Finals.
Additionally, the 5.4 overnight rating is up eight percent from a 5.0 for Western Conference Finals Game 1 in 2014 (Oklahoma City-San Antonio).
Game 1 Scores Big Locally
Game 1 drew a 16.6 rating in the Houston market, making it the second-highest rated NBA postseason game (non-Finals) ever in the market. In the San Francisco market, the telecast generated a 15.6, also making it the second-highest rated NBA postseason game (non-Finals) ever in the market.
Second-Highest Average Minute Audience Ever for NBA Game on WatchESPN
Golden State-Houston Game 1 delivered the second-highest average minute audience ever for an NBA game on WatchESPN with 142,509. This ranks behind only 2013 NBA Finals Game 7, which drew 189,547.
2015 NBA Draft Lottery is Highest-Rated Ever
The 2015 NBA Draft Lottery, which aired exclusively on ESPN Tuesday night, generated a 3.2 overnight rating, which is the highest-rated NBA Draft Lottery telecast ever on the network. This is up 10 percent from the 2014 Draft Lottery telecast (2.9). The top five Draft Lottery markets: Memphis (5.1), Houston (5.0), Miami (5.0), New York (4.9), Philadelphia (4.8).
NBA Western Conference Finals Game 2 on ESPN is Thursday at 9 p.m. ET with Mike Breen, analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson and reporter Doris Burke providing commentary. Kia NBA Countdown will precede the game with a one-hour, on-site pre-game show hosted by Sage Steele and featuring analysts Doug Collins and Jalen Rose.
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