Game 4 of the NBA Finals performed steadily with last year's equivalent game to hand ABC a commanding lead on Thursday night, while NBC's cannibal drama "Hannibal" and Fox's reality offering "Does Someone Have to Go" took ratings hits, according to preliminary numbers.
ABC's numbers are approximate due to the nature of live sports. However, early numbers put the network far and away in first place in both the key 18-49 demo and total viewers, with a 4.7 rating/15 share and 11.8 million, respectively. The San Antonio-Miami game was on par with last year's Game 4, dropping just 3 percent for a 5.8/18 and scoring 14.1 million total viewers.
Prior to the game itself, the network aired "Jimmy Kimmel Live Game Night," which drew a 2.4/9 with 7.2 million total viewers; its pregame show had a 2.7/9 with 7.3 million total viewers.
Fox was a distant second in ratings with a 1.4/5 and third in total viewers with 3.8 million. "Hell's Kitchen" at 8 p.m. dipped 9 percent for a 2.0/7 with 5.1 million total viewers, while "Does Someone Have to Go" the following hour dropped 18 percent from last week for a 0.9/3 with 2.4 million total viewers.
Univision was third in ratings with a 1.4/4 and fourth in total viewers with 3.5 million.
CBS, which aired repeats throughout the night, was fourth in ratings and second in total viewers with a 1.2/4 and 6.5 million.
NBC tied Telemundo for fifth place in ratings with a 0.6/2 and was fifth outright in total viewers with 2 million, compared to Telemundo's 1.5 million. The network aired repeats aside from "Save Me" at 8:30, which dropped 29 percent from last week for a series low of 0.5/2 with 2.2 million total viewers, and "Hannibal" at 10, which hit its own series low, falling off 22 percent for a 0.7/2 and taking 2 million total viewers.
