Fading Knicks cost NBC
Peacock facing lowest overall finals ratings since 1981
After settling for a 12.0 rating, 22 share in homes with Wednesday's Knicks loss to the San Antonio Spurs (the poorest primetime tally for Game 4 of the NBA Finals in 21 years), NBC now needs the ratings surge of at least one more Knicks victory if it's to have any chance of avoiding the lowest overall finals average since 1981.
Through four games, three of them won by heavily favored San Antonio, this year's series is averaging an 11.3/21 in homes, down a steep 35% vs. last year's Michael Jordan-inflated results. Before this year, the lowest-rated series since 1981 was the Boston-L.A. Lakers matchup of 1984 (a seven-game 12.1/26).
Despite the disappointing Nielsens, Wednesday hoops dominated its slot, leading 9-11 p.m. by 4 shares in homes and 6 in adults 18-49.
Each household rating point represents an estimated 994,000 homes, or 1% of the country's TV households. Each adults 18-49 rating point reps 1.239 million viewers, 1% of the U.S. total. A share is the same sort of percentage, except it's measured against only the homes or viewers watching TV during the timeslot involved.
