NBA playoff hoops ran all other cable programming into the ground among 18-49s (Live+SD) during the week of May 4-10, as 7 games on TNT and 1 on ESPN took the week’s 1st 8 spots. TNT’s games were led by a Rockets-Lakers scrum that garnered 3.94mln in the demo, and averaged 2.87mln. ESPN’s tilt attracted 3.42mln. 2 hours of WWE action on USA completed the lopsided top 10 with a 2.2mln avg.

(Data provided by Nielsen)

05/04/2009-05/10/2009
TOTAL-05/04/2009
RANK TELECASTS EPISODE TITLE ORIG DAY(S) S TIME R DUR P18-49 P18-49 P18-49
Live+SD US AA% Live+SD US SHR Live+SD AA(000)
1 NBA PLAYOFFS-05/06/2009 ROCKETS/LAKERS TNT ..W…. 10:43 PM 170 3 11 3944
2 NBA PLAYOFFS-05/04/2009 ROCKETS/LAKERS TNT M…… 10:46 PM 163 2.7 10 3502
3 NBA PLAYOFFS-CONF SEMIS L-05/08/2009 LAKERS/ROCKETS ESPN ….F.. 9:51 PM 154 2.6 9 3419
4 NBA PLAYOFFS-05/10/2009 CELTICS/MAGIC TNT ……S 8:06 PM 174 2.1 6 2814
5 NBA PLAYOFFS-05/05/2009 MAVERICKS/NUGGETS TNT .T….. 10:51 PM 169 1.9 7 2516
6 NBA PLAYOFFS-05/05/2009 HAWKS/CAVALIERS TNT .T….. 8:00 PM 171 1.9 5 2452
7 NBA PLAYOFFS-05/04/2009 MAGIC/CELTICS TNT M…… 8:00 PM 166 1.9 5 2442
8 NBA PLAYOFFS-05/06/2009 MAGIC/CELTICS TNT ..W…. 8:00 PM 163 1.8 5 2426
9 WWE ENTERTAINMENT-05/04/2009 WWE RAW USA M…… 10:00 PM 71 1.7 5 2306
10 WWE ENTERTAINMENT-05/04/2009 WWE RAW USA M…… 9:00 PM 60 1.6 4 2090

The Daily

Subscribe
Friday–May 8

Pitcher Ready to Play Ball as WICT CEO

Tracy Pitcher built part of her leadership foundation with the help of The WICT Network . Now she’s responsible for shaping what that experience looks like for the next generation.

Read the Full Issue
The Skinny is delivered on Tuesday and focuses on the cable profession. You'll stay in the know on the headlines, topics and special issues you value most. Sign Up

Calendar

Jun 4
2026 Cynopsis Sports Awards Presented in partnership with Cablefax
Jul 10
2026 Top Ops AwardsTop Ops Awards Entry Deadline
Nov 3
2026 Most Powerful Women Awards2026 Most Powerful Women Awards
Full Calendar

Jobs

Seeking an INDUSTRY JOB or hiring for one?
VIEW JOBS

In conjunction with our sister brand, Cynopsis, we are offering hiring managers a deep pool of media-savvy, skilled candidates at a range of experience levels and sectors. The result will be an even more robust industry job board, to help both employers and job seekers.

Contact us at marketing@cynopsis.com, for more information about posting a job on the website and our Jobs newsletter, sent twice weekly to 85,000 media professionals.