Final 2 competitive games help NBA Finals in ratings

NEW YORK – The two top winter sports crowned their champions as summer neared, separated by exactly 10 million viewers.

The sixth game of the NBA Finals, where the Toronto Raptors dethroned the depleted Golden State Warriors, was seen by 18.76 million viewers in the United States, according to the Nielsen company.

Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, center right, holds Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy after the Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 of basketball’s NBA Finals, Thursday, June 13, 2019, in Oakland, Calif. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

The final two games buoyed ABC, which had been suffering in the ratings with the series between a Canadian opponent and a team competing in its fifth consecutive finals.

The seventh game of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, won by the St. Louis Blues over the Boston Bruins, was seen by 8.76 million viewers, Nielsen said.

The NBA Finals, plus a few game shows, helped ABC to the week’s ratings championship.

ABC averaged 6.1 million viewers in prime time. NBC had 4.1 million, CBS had 3.8 million, ION Television had 1.4 million, Telemundo had 1.2 million, Univision had 1.1 million and the CW had 630,000.

Fox’s average was not immediately available.

Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.19 million viewers.

MSNBC had 1.47 million, HGTV had 1.3 million, A&E had 1.13 million and USA had 1.04 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.6 million viewers, NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.8 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.2 million.

For the week of June 10-16, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: NBA Finals: Toronto at Golden State, Game 6, ABC, 18.76 million; NBA Finals: Golden State at Toronto, Game 5, ABC, 18.6 million; “America’s Got Talent,” ABC, 9.46 million; NHL Stanley Cup Final: St. Louis at Boston, Game 7, NBC, 8.76 million; “60 Minutes,” CBS, 6.17 million; “NBA Countdown” (Monday), ABC, 5.64 million; “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 5.36 million; “NBA Countdown” (Thursday), ABC, 5.18 million; “NCIS,” CBS, 5.03 million; “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 4.94 million. /gsg