TNT’s Celtics-Knicks Matchup: Cable’s Biggest Christmas Day Audience Ever

TNT’s CELTICS-KNICKS MATCHUP: CABLE’S BIGGEST CHRISTMAS DAY AUDIENCE EVER

TNT earns a 3.4 U.S. HH Rating and more than 5.9 Million Total Viewers as Network tips-off

2011-12 NBA Season; Game ranks as Fourth Most-Watched Regular-Season Contest in Cable TV History

NBA.com Sees Strong Double Digit Increases

TNT opened its coverage of the 2011-12 NBA regular season on Christmas Day with more than 5.9 million total viewers, a 3.4 U.S. HH Rating and 3.9 million households, marking the most-watched NBA regular-season game on Christmas ever on cable. The game, a two-point victory by the New York Knicks over the Boston Celtics, marked the official tip-off of the NBA regular season.

Only three games, all broadcasted by TNT, delivered a higher audience for a NBA regular-season game on cable then yesterday’s Boston-New York matchup.

Miami at Boston (7,348,000 total viewers on 10/26/2010)
Miami at Cleveland (7,096,000 total viewers on 12/02/2010)
LA Lakers at Chicago (7,271,000 total viewers on 2/2/1996)

Locally, yesterday’s Celtics-Knicks game delivered a 7.8 U.S. HH Rating in Boston and a 7.2 U.S. HH Rating in

New York.

The Christmas afternoon matchup between the Knicks and Celtics also registered triple-digit growth in all key demos vs. TNT’s coverage of the 2010-11 NBA regular season, including:

U.S. HH Rating: 3.4 vs. 1.6 rating (+113%)
Total Viewers: 5,860,000 vs. 2,453,000 (+139%)
Households: 3,925,000 vs. 1,826,000 (+115%)
A18-34: 1,859,000 vs. 810,000 (+130%)
A25-54: 2,901,000 vs. 1,221,000 (+138%)
A18-49: 3,206,000 vs. 1,378,000 (+133%)
M18-34: 1,278,000 vs. 567,000 (+125%)
M18-49: 2,227,000 vs. 970,000 (+130%)
M25-54: 1,956,000 vs. 855,000 (+129% )

The day was also a huge success for NBA’s digital platforms as fans logged on to NBA.com for news, highlights and analysis. NBA.com experienced extensive traffic (domestic) throughout Christmas Day including:

Page Views: 20 million page views ( +67% versus Christmas 2010); this ranked as the site’s second highest day for page views; trails only LeBron James’ ‘The Decision’ in summer of 2010 (23.3 million).
Video Streams: 5.5 million (+84% versus Christmas 2010)

NBA on TNT Premiere Week Presented by AutoTrader.com continues on Tuesday, Dec. 27, with an exclusive doubleheader featuring the Celtics @ Heat (8 p.m. ET) followed by the Utah Jazz @ Lakers (10:30 p.m. ET). The action will continue on Thursday, Dec. 29, with another exclusive doubleheader featuring the Mavericks @ Oklahoma City Thunder (8 p.m. ET) followed by the Knicks @ Lakers (10:30 p.m. ET).

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news; entertainment; animation and young adult; and sports media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world. Turner brands and businesses include CNN/U.S., CNN International, CNN.com and HLN; TBS, TNT, truTV and Turner Classic Movies; Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Adult Swim; and Turner Sports.

Source: Source: Nielsen Media Research. Based on Live+SD data. 2011 NBA Opening Game, Christmas based on Nielsen Fast National data for 12/25/11 compared vs. Christmas Day NBA Regular Season on ESPN 2003-2010 and 2010-11 NBA Regular Season on TNT 52 game average (10/26/10-04/12/11). Local ratings based on Arianna, Live +SD data.

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