ABC’s bounce with NBA assist

Viewership for the first two games is the largest since the 1998 championship series.

The opening two games of the NBA Finals averaged their largest viewership since 1998, helping ABC to its first prime-time weekly ratings victory since the Oscars and second since the conclusion of the 2016 Finals.

The finals averaged 19.192 million viewers through two games, according to liveplus-same-day figures released by Nielsen. The viewership is the largest since the 1998 series between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz, Michael Jordan’s last Finals appearance, which aired on NBC.

The Golden State Warriors’ 132-113 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 on Sunday was the most-watched prime-time program between May 29 and Sunday and the mostwatched Game 2 since 1998, averaging 19.69 million viewers.

Golden State’s 113-91 victory in Game 1 on Thursday was second for the week, averaging 18.70 million viewers, 2.6% less than the 19.2-million average for the Warriors’ 104-89 victory over Cleveland in Game 1 of the 2016 Finals.

ABC averaged 6.77 million viewers for its primetime programming for the first full week of television’s summer season.

NBC was second, averaging 5.18 million, followed by CBS, which averaged 4.42 million, and Fox, which averaged 2.31 million.

Both of NBC’s series premieres were among the week’s 10 most-watched programs.

The news magazine “Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly” was 10th for the week and eighth among nonsports programs, averaging 6.20 million viewers, NBC’s largest nonsports audience in the Sunday 7-8 p.m. time slot since March 20, 2016, when a “Little Big Shots” rerun averaged 7.1 million viewers.

“World of Dance” was fourth for the week and second among nonsports programs, averaging 9.71 million viewers, the largest audience for the premiere of a summer alternative series since June 24, 2008, when “Wipeout” averaged 9.98 million viewers on ABC.

“World of Dance” benefited by following the 12thseason premiere of the perennial summer ratings blockbuster “America’s Got Talent,” which was third overall and first among nonsports programs, averaging 12.32 million viewers.

“America’s Got Talent” was the week’s only program other than the two NBA Finals games to average more than 10 million viewers.

The viewership was the largest for an “America’s Got Talent” season premiere since the 2011 premiere averaged 15.3 million viewers.

The premiere of the Fox cooking show “The F Word” was third in its Wednesday 910 p.m. slot, 48th overall.

Here are the combined rankings for national prime-time network and cable television last week (May 29-June 4), as compiled by Nielsen. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish during its scheduled telecast or on a playback device the same day. Nielsen estimates there are 289 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.