NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The NBA playoffs have begun with no clear championship favorite, and that appears to be good news for ABC and ESPN.
The opening-round schedule of five games last weekend on the networks had more viewers than any playoff start since 2011, and its average of 4.17 million was up 32% over last year, the Nielsen company said.
Leading the way was the instant classic between the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics, with 6.9 million viewers Sunday afternoon, making it the most-watched first round game since 2016, Nielsen said. Viewership peaked at 9.8 million when the Celtics hit a last-second layup to win 115-114.
Among the broadcast networks, CBS led the way last week with an average of 4.5 million viewers in prime time. ABC had 3.5 million, NBC had 3 million, Fox had 2.8 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 1 million and Telemundo had 800,000.
Fox News Channel led the cable networks with a prime-time average of 2.24 million viewers. TNT had 1.59 million, ESPN had 1.23 million, MSNBC had 1.16 million and HGTV had 977,000.
ABC's 鈥淲orld News Tonight鈥� led the evening news ratings with an average of 8 million viewers last week. NBC's 鈥淣ightly News鈥� had 6.6 million and the 鈥淐BS Evening News鈥� had 4.6 million.
For the week of April 11-17, the top 20 most-watched prime-time programs, their networks and viewerships:
1. 鈥淔BI,鈥� CBS, 7.39 million.
2. 鈥�60 Minutes,鈥� CBS, 7.12 million.
3. 鈥淐hicago Fire,鈥� NBC, 7.11 million.
4. 鈥淵oung Sheldon," CBS, 6.85 million.
5. 鈥淐hicago Med,鈥� NBC, 6.77 million.
6. 鈥淭he Equalizer,鈥� CBS, 6.64 million.
7. 鈥淕hosts,鈥� CBS, 5.96 million.
8. 鈥淐hicago PD,鈥� NBC, 5.92 million.
9. 鈥淔BI: International," CBS, 5.79 million.
10. 鈥淣CIS: Los Angeles,鈥� CBS, 5.64 million.
11. 鈥淔BI: Most Wanted,鈥� CBS, 5.43 million.
12. 鈥淐MT Music Awards,鈥� CBS, 5.33 million.
13. 鈥淎merican Idol鈥� (Monday), ABC, 5.31 million.
14. 鈥淎merican Idol鈥� (Sunday), ABC, 5.27 million.
15. 鈥淪urvivor,鈥� CBS, 5.08 million.
16. 鈥淎merica's Funniest Home Videos,鈥� ABC, 5.07 million.
17. 鈥�911,鈥� Fox, 5.06 million.
18. 鈥淯nited States of Al,鈥� CBS, 4.91 million.
19. NBA Playoffs: Chicago at Milwaukee, Turner, 4.77 million.
20. 鈥淟aw & Order: SVU,鈥� NBC, 4.74 million.
David Bauder, The Associated Press
