NBA finals are summer ratings bonanza for ABC

NEW YORK — A classic Celtics-Lakers NBA finals series is proving to be a summertime tonic for ABC.

Three games of the series helped ABC to its best summer week in the ratings in six years, the Nielsen Co. said Tuesday. Sunday's Game 5 was the most-watched NBA finals game in five years, since Game 7 of a Detroit-San Antonio series in 2005.

Basketball was so important that ABC won the week even though it had only one other program — "The Bachelorette" — among Nielsen's 30 most popular shows.

Fox is taking advantage of the lack of competition by increasing the buzz factor of "Glee" even further. An original episode of the teen musical was behind only the basketball games, NBC's "America's Got Talent" and an "NCIS" rerun in viewership last week.

The Chicago Blackhawks' Stanley Cup victory over the Philadelphia Flyers last week was seen on NBC by 8.28 million, the most-watched NHL game in 36 years, Nielsen said.

For the week, ABC averaged 8 million viewers (4.9 rating, 9 share) and easily won among the 18-to-49-year-old age group, too. CBS had 7.1 million viewers (4.7, 8), Fox had 5.3 million and NBC 5.1 million (both 3.2, 6), ION Television had 1.2 million (0.8, 1) and the CW had 930,000 (0.6, 1).

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.5 million viewers (5.1, 11). ABC's "World News" was second with 6.9 million (4.8, 10) and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.4 million viewers (3.7, 8).

A ratings point represents 1,149,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.9 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

The top 20

(AP) Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen Co. for June 7-13. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.

1. NBA finals: Game 5, ABC, 18.65 million.

2. NBA finals: Game 4, ABC, 16.37 million.

3. NBA finals: Game 3, ABC, 15.96 million.

4. "America's Got Talent," NBC, 13.09 million.

5. "NCIS," CBS, 11.26 million.

6. "Glee," Fox, 11.08 million.

7. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 9.84 million.

8. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 9.57 million.

9. "Big Bang Theory," CBS, 9.12 million.

10. "60 Minutes," CBS, 9.04 million.

11. "The Mentalist," CBS, 8.91 million.

12. "CSI," CBS, 8.51 million.

13. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 8.47 million.

14. "CSI: NY," CBS, 8.42 million.

15. NHL Finals: Game 6, NBC, 8.28 million.

16. "So You Think You Can Dance" (Wednesday), Fox, 8.15 million.

17. "CSI: Miami," CBS, 7.97 million.

18. "Bachelorette," ABC, 7.91 million.

19. "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday, 8 p.m.), NBC, 7.53 million.

20. "CSI" (Thursday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 7.41 million.