TNT rode the end of its coverage of the NBA and NHL conference championship playoff rounds, leading up to each league’s finals, to another win in the primetime cable ratings during the final full week of May.
TNT averaged 3.2 million viewers during the week of May 22-May 28 to top all cable networks for the sixth straight week, according to Nielsen figures supplied by Fox News Channel. TNT was propelled by its Boston Celtics-Miami Heat NBA Eastern Conference finals coverage, with the May 27 Game 6 of the series averaging 8.7 million viewers.
TNT will air the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, pitting the Vegas Golden Knights against the Florida Panthers, starting this Saturday (June 3).
ESPN finished second for the week with 1.8 million viewers, powered by 8.2 million viewers tuning into its May 22 coverage of Game 4 of the Denver Nuggets-Los Angeles Lakers NBA Western Conference finals. The NBA Finals between the Heat and Nuggets begins Thursday night (June 1) on ESPN sister network ABC.
Fox News finished third for the week with 1.3 million viewers, followed by MSNBC with 1.1 million viewers and HGTV with 781,000 watchers. INSP was the sixth most-watched network for the week with 693,000 viewers, followed by Discovery Channel (630,000 viewers), History (576,000), TLC (567,000) and Hallmark Channel (539,000).
Fox News took top honors in the total day category for the 21st consecutive week with 1 million viewers, followed by MSNBC (734,000 viewers), TNT (703,000), ESPN (599,000) and HGTV (420,000), according to Nielsen.
