The opening game of the NBA Eastern Conference finals drew a stellar TV rating Wednesday night in metro Atlanta, although not nearly as large as in Cleveland.
The Hawks-Cavaliers opener on TNT posted a 15.4 household rating in the Atlanta market, meaning 15.4 percent of the market’s homes with TVs watched the game on average. To put that in context, it was more than seven times as many metro Atlanta homes as watched the telecast of Wednesday’s Braves-Rays baseball game.
But Cleveland was even more captivated by the basketball telecast.
The Cavs’ victory drew a 31.4 rating in the Cleveland market, meaning almost one-third of the households there watched on average — more than double the percentage in Atlanta.
The Cleveland rating was the highest on record for an NBA game airing on TNT in that market.
Nationally, the Hawks-Cavs opener averaged a 4.4 household rating and 6.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen figures. That made it TNT’s highest-rated and most-viewed NBA game telecast this season. The number of U.S. viewers was up 8 percent from TNT’s comparable conference finals coverage last year.
In Atlanta, the 15.4 local rating continued a trend of sharply rising TV viewership for the Hawks as the team has advanced in the playoffs and commanded the city’s attention.
Wednesday night’s Braves game, by comparison, posted a 2.1 rating in the Atlanta market.
The Hawks’ first- and second-round playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards averaged a 7.3 rating in Atlanta, including an 11.0 for the fifth game of the series against the Wizards.
Behind the Atlanta and Cleveland markets, Wednesday’s game drew its next highest TV ratings in Columbus, Ohio (13.8), Norfolk, Va. (10.2) and Birmingham, Ala. (9.2).
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