By David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The NBA Finals is off and running with its best ratings through two games since the Chicago Bulls’ last championship in 1998. Now ABC has to hope the Cleveland Cavaliers can make it competitive.
The first two games, both won by the Golden State Warriors, averaged 19.2 million viewers, the Nielsen company said. The interest in championship series usually increase if they are evenly matched, so if the Cavs can take a few games ABC would be in great shape.
Unfortunately for the network, the Warriors haven’t lost in the playoffs yet.
NBC had a strong showing with the debut of Megyn Kelly’s newsmagazine, “Sunday Night,” featuring her interview with Vladimir Putin. It landed among the week’s 10 most-watched TV shows and, although it lost to CBS’ “60 Minutes” in the time slot, won among younger viewers.
Basketball led ABC, which averaged 6.8 million viewers, to a weekly victory in primetime. NBC had 5.2 million viewers, CBS had 4.4 million, Fox had 2.3 million, Univision had 1.5 million, ION television had 1.3 million, Telemundo had 870,000 and the CW had 820,000.
Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.21 million viewers in primetime. HGTV had 1.49 million, MSNBC had 1.32 million, USA had 1.27 million and TBS had 1.23 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.5 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 7.1 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.7 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for May 29-June 4. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. NBA Finals: Cleveland vs. Golden State, Game 2, ABC, 19.69 million.
2. NBA Finals: Cleveland vs. Golden State, Game 1, ABC, 18.7 million.
3. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC 12.32 million.
4. “World of Dance,” NBC, 9.71 million.
5. “Little Big Shots,” NBC, 7.45 million.
6. “NCIS,” CBS, 7.35 million.
7. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 6.79 million.
8. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 6.73 million.
9. “Bull,” CBS, 6.51 million.
10. “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly,” NBC, 6.2 million.
11. “NBA Countdown” (Game 1), ABC, 6.03 million.
12. “The Bachelorette,” ABC, 5.69 million.
13. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.57 million.
14. “NCIS: Los Angeles” (Sunday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 5.12 million.
15. “Criminal Minds,” CBS, 5.03 million.
16. “NCIS: Los Angeles” (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 4.96 million.
17. NHL Stanley Cup Final: Nashville vs. Pittsburgh, Game 1, NBC, 4.86 million.
18. “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 4.8 million.
19. “NBA Countdown” (Game 2), ABC, 4.78 million.
20. “Dateline NBC,” NBC, 4.75 million.
Eleanor Adds Director Candice Vernon To Its Roster For Spots and Branded Content
Director Candice Vernon has joined production house Eleanor for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. She has already wrapped several jobs at Eleanor, which waited to announce her until they had a body of work together.
Via Eleanor, Vernon made history as the first Black director on a Febreze commercial. The “Small Spaces” campaign marks a major departure from Febreze’s typical blue-and-white world. The home of the “Revolving Door” commercial is a beautiful array of bold sunset hues, African prints, and African art.
Vernon said, “I asked myself, what feels right to me? What feels new? I wanted to bring an essence of not just Black Americans but the full diaspora. I wanted to make a statement that we’re not a monolith.”
Following the success of the “Small Spaces” campaign, Febreze brought Vernon back for a comedy-infused trifecta exploring the hilarious situations that call for an air freshening hero.
Febreze Brand VP Angelica Matthews said, “About two years ago, we realized the consumers that were the most loyal to Febreze were the African American consumers. And the more we learned, the more we realized the richness that we were really missing. So we said we have to go beyond just Black casting, we need to get Black directors that truly understand the culture that truly understand how to bring authentic performances out on screen. We really looked around the industry and noticed there’s actually a shortage of African American directors who have experience doing commercials. When we all saw Candice’s reel, we could all tell the passion for the craft, passion for really trying to help us from where we are to where we’re trying to go.”
Vernon brings a unique lens to... Read More