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The Nielsen Co. said Tuesday that 28.2 million people watched Kobe Bryant's Lakers win their second straight NBA championship. It was the most-watched NBA game since Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to their sixth championship over the Utah Jazz in 1998.Except for the Olympics, Nielsen said last Thursday's game was the most-watched show on network TV in the summertime since the finale of the first "Survivor" season in August 2000.It follows a trend of big ratings for big events on TV. This year's Super Bowl reigns as the most-watched event in U.S. television history, with an audience of 106 million.

The network also said Watch ESPN, the authenticated TV Everywhere app introduced last year, is now in 40 million homes. ESPN predicted that figure would double by 2013. "Whether we televise the game or not, there is an audience consuming it via ESPN platforms," said Sean Bratches, exec VP-sales and marketing. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, Mr. Bratches said. ESPN is working with companies including Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, Netflix and Microsoft to further expand the offerings. "Young males spend more time consuming media" on Xbox than playing video games," he said. ESPN is making content for these digital platforms, reviving the "30 to 30" franchise with "30 for 30 Shorts," which will roll out monthly on Grantland, the sports-plus-pop-culture site created by sports journalist Bill Simmons. To visualize just how advertisers can partner with its various digital platforms, ESPN presented three case studies from partners Gatorade, Goodyear and Diageo. Gatorade partnered with ESPN across multiple screens in an effort to embrace female athletes and moms, an audience that ESPN is making a concerted effort to tap into with espnW. This includes "Nine for IX," a series of nine documentary films about women in sports in celebration of Title IX's 40th anniversary.