Saturday Final Nationals: ESPN Triples Runner-Up Network Competitor in Young Demos with NBA Cavaliers-Raptors Game 3

It was a heavy sports Saturday with ESPN out in front in all measures on the night with “NBA Eastern Conference Final Game 3: Cleveland Cavaliers @ Toronto Raptors”: total viewers (4.73 million), adults 18-49 (1.8 rating), adults 18-34 (1.6 rating) and adults 25-54 (1.9 rating). In prime time (8-11 p.m.), ESPN tripled the second-place network, fellow Disney outlet ABC, in each adults 18-49 and adults 18-34.

Earlier in the evening, Exaggerator’s muddy run to victory in Saturday’s 141st Preakness Stakes on NBC averaged 9.4 million viewers – up 6 percent from Triple Crown-winner American Pharoah’s first-place finish at Pimlico last year (8.9 million viewers), according to official national data provided by The Nielsen Company.

Viewership peaked at 11.4 million viewers from 6:45-7 p.m. ET, as Exaggerator overtook Kentucky Derby-winner Nyquist for the Preakness victory. Nyquist finished third.

The 2016 Preakness Stakes on NBC (6:20-7:09 p.m. ET) posted a 5.8/14 HH rating — up 5 percent from last year’s race (5.5/13).

Baltimore, the home of the Preakness Stakes, topped the metered markets with a 19.7 rating/38 share – the race’s best rating in the city since 2009 and up 17 percent from last year. Louisville, the home of the Kentucky Derby, ranked second with a 14.6/28 – an increase of 23 percent from the 2015 Preakness.

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	Saturday, May 21, 2016
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	1.6/3	2608	0.5/2	0.6/2	0.7/3
8:00	Movie: Toy Story (1995)	1.2/2	2047	0.5/3	0.5/2	0.6/2
10:00	20/20 Saturday	2.5/5	3728	0.5/2	0.7/3	1.0/3
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	2.1/4	3264	0.3/1	0.5/2	0.7/2
8:00	Crimetime Saturday: NCIS (r)	2.2/4	3340	0.3/1	0.4/2	0.6/2
9:00	48 Hours Presents (thru 11:00)	2.1/4	3226	0.3/1	0.5/2	0.8/3
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	1.2/2	1849	0.4/2	0.6/2	0.7/3
6:20	141st Preakness Stakes (s)	5.8/14	9400
7:09	NHL Western Conference Final Game 4 St. Louis Blues @ San Jose Sharks (s)	1.4/3	2269	0.5/3	0.6/3	0.8/3
10:07	Saturday Night Live (r)	1.1/2	1702	0.3/1	0.5/2	0.7/2
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	1.5/3	2398	0.4/2	0.5/2	0.7/2
7:12	MLB Baseball Chicago Cubs @ San Francisco Giants (s) (thru 10:33)	1.4/3	2241	0.4/2	0.5/2	0.6/2
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	0.6/1	970		0.3/1
6:00	Cine Dios los Cría (1975)	0.4/1	658		0.2/1
8:00	La Rosa de Guadalupe	0.5/1	941		0.4/2
9:00	Sal y Pimienta	0.6/1	973		0.3/1
10:00	Cronicas de Sabado	0.6/1	997		0.3/1
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	0.3/1	725		0.3/1
7:00	Cine El Bolero de Raquel (1956)	0.3/1	703		0.2/1
9:00	Cine Vecinos cercanos del tercer tipo (2012) (thru 11:00)	0.3/1	661		0.3/1

Sub-Demo Breakdowns – Saturday 5/21/16

For the entire week of May 16-22, 2016 in Total Day (8 p.m. to 5:59 a.m.), Adult Swim is up +2 percent in total viewership (1.036 million vs. 1.013 million) and down -3 percent among Adults 18-49 (601,000 vs. 617,000) from one week earlier; the network is also down -1 percent in total viewership (1.036 million vs. 1.043 million) and up +0.5 percent among Adults 18-49 (601,000 vs. 598,000) from the same week one year ago (May 18-24, 2015). (https://programminginsider.com/?p=8379)

	PROGRAM	HH	Viewers (000)	A18-49 rating
8:00	Dragon Ball Z Kai (r)	0.40	590	0.19
8:30	King of the Hill (r)	0.38	585	0.21
9:00	King of the Hill (r)	0.49	712	0.32
9:30	The Cleveland Show (r)	0.63	989	0.45
10:00	The Cleveland Show (r)	0.74	1133	0.50
10:30	American Dad (r)	0.82	1304	0.62
11:00	Family Guy (r)		1547	0.70
11:30	Family Guy (r)		1767	0.80

TOONAMI – SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2016

	PROGRAM	Viewers (000)	A1849 rating	A1849 (000)
12:00a	Dragon Ball Z Kai	1403	0.67	855
12:30a	Dragon Ball Z Kai	1273	0.58	737
1:00a	Hunter X Hunter	1029	0.47	600
1:30a	Samurai Champloo	952	0.42	532
2:00a	Naruto: Shippuden	926	0.42	528
2:30a	One Piece	875	0.39	497
3:00a	Parasyte: The Maxim (r)	790	0.35	449

	PROGRAM	Viewers (000)	A1849 rating
3:30a	The Cleveland Show (r)	772	0.36
4:00a	The Cleveland Show (r)	819	0.38
4:30a	American Dad (r)	828	0.38
5:00a	King of the Hill (r)	787	0.36
5:30a	King of the Hill (r)	768	0.35

Cable Rankings – Saturday 05/21/16

What follows are the top 100 most-watched shows in prime time on cable (by order of network) for Saturday, May 21:

Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research