Lakers-Celtics produces TV ratings bump for ABC

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The ABC broadcast of the Lakers’ 92-83 Christmas Day win over the Celtics -- a victory that ended Boston’s 19-game winning streak -- produced the network’s highest-rated regular-season NBA game in four years, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

Thursday’s 2 p.m. PST broadcast generated a 5.3 household rating, a 51% increase over the rating of last year’s late NBA game broadcast on ABC that featured the Lakers and Suns. The audience for Thursday’s broadcast was 9.9 million viewers, up from 5.9 million for the like broadcast a year ago.

-- Greg Johnson