ABC AND NBA TOGETHER SPELL HUGE RATINGS

ABC is trouncing its competitors with its coverage of the NBA Finals. With 11.4 million viewers tuning in, Thursday’s telecast of Game 2 between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder drew an audience that exceeded all of the other networks’ combined. Among the key age group of 18-49, the telecast outdistanced the combined audience of CBS, NBC, and Fox by 21 percent, the network said. Sunday night’s telecast also amounted to a slam dunk for ABC, with Game 3 drawing 11.5 million viewers (live sports telecasts are often subject to considerable revisions of their limited Nielsen overnight figures). It received a sharp challenge from another sports event — the U.S. Open on NBC, which averaged 8.8 million viewers. ABC also had a very good night on Friday as its coverage of Nik Wallenda’s highwire walk over Niagara Falls drew 10.1 million viewers, peaking in the last half hour at 10:30 p.m. with 13.1 million viewers. The network said it was the biggest audience it had drawn on a Friday night since November 2007.