Kevin Durant returned to the NBA Playoffs on Monday, a comeback from injury that was short lived. His Golden State Warriors won a must-win NBA Finals Game 5, and ABC reaped the benefits of a big — and good — game.
ABC was a dominant No. 1 among adults 18-49 and in total viewers. NBC and Fox tied for second in the key demo. CBS was second in terms of total viewers.
Due to the nature of live sports, the below fast-national numbers for ABC should be considered subject to significant adjustment.
ABC was first in ratings with a 4.4 rating/20 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 12.6 million, according to preliminary numbers. Special “Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night” at 8 p.m. put up a 2.7/14 and 9.3 million viewers. Pregame show “NBA Countdown” at 8:30 landed a 2.9/14 and 9.2 million viewers. The game followed, drawing even bigger numbers.
NBC and Fox tied for second in ratings, both with a 0.6/3. NBC was third in total viewers with 3.3 million, Fox was fourth with 2.5 million.
For NBC, following reruns, “Dateline NBC” at 10 p.m. received a 0.6/3 and 3.3 million viewers.
For Fox, “Beat Shazam” at 8 had a 0.6/3 and 2.6 million viewers. “So You Think You Can Dance” at 9 got a 0.6/3 and 2.5 million viewers.
Telemundo was fourth in ratings with a 0.5/2 and fifth in viewers with 1.4 million.
CBS and Univision tied for fifth in ratings, both with a 0.4/2. CBS was second in total viewers with 3.6 million, airing all repeats; Univision was sixth with 1.2 million.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/1 and in viewers with 660,000, airing a pair of reruns.