TV ratings: NBC’s ‘The Night Shift’ holds strong against NBA

NBC’s rookie drama “The Night Shift” faced Game 3 of the Spurs-Heat series Tuesday night, but that didn’t sideline the hospital show in the ratings.

In its third week, “The Night Shift,” which follows the red-eye staff of San Antonio Memorial, averaged 6.9-million viewers and a rating of 1.5 among key 18-to-49-year-olds, according to early numbers from Nielsen.

In the advertiser-cherished demographic, the series held steady with last week’s episode and even increased slightly in total viewership. That’s a solid hold, though it’s worth noting that the series has received considerable support from its lead-in, “America’s Got Talent.”

NBC had the highest-rated non-sports program of the night in “Talent,” which fell 10% week-to-week for a 2.6 in the key demographic, and NBC finished in second place in both measures behind NBA-driven ABC.

Accurate national Nielsens won’t be available for Game 3 of the NBA finals until later Wednesday. That said, the game, in which the San Antonio Spurs took a 2-1 lead in the series over the Miami Heat, dominated Tuesday night with a household rating of 10.3 in Nielsen’s 56 metered markets, up from last year’s comparable contest between the same teams.

UPDATE: According to national numbers from Nielsen, Game 3 averaged 14.8 million viewers and a rating of 5.9 in 18-49.

Elsewhere, it was a quiet night on broadcast television, as CBS aired only reruns and Fox has its back-to-back bombs, “Riot” and “I Wanna Marry ‘Harry,’” which both earned a 0.4 in 18-to-49.