NBA Playoffs: Nine Million Viewers For Celtics/Heat Game 1

Posted by | 05/30/2012 at 5:45 pm

ESPN drew strong numbers for series-opener between the Celtics and Heat.

Game 1 of the Celtics/Heat NBA Eastern Conference Finals drew 8.989 million viewers on ESPN Monday night, up 29% from Thunder/Mavericks Game 1 on a Tuesday night last year (6.982M), and up 28% from Celtics/Magic Game 1 on a Sunday afternoon in 2010 (7.030M, ABC).

Compared to Game 1 of last year’s Heat/Bulls Eastern Conference Finals on TNT, viewership declined 19% from 11.109 million.

Monday’s game ranks as the fourteenth-most viewed NBA game ever on cable, and the third-most viewed game on ESPN. In addition, the game ranks as the third-most viewed conference final opener of the past decade, trailing only Heat/Bulls last year and Lakers/Kings Game 1 on NBC in 2002 (9.153M).

Despite the strong numbers, Celtics/Heat was not the most-viewed program of the night on cable, trailing ‘Hatfields & McCoys’ on History (13.866M).

In the key adults 18-49 demographic, however, the game was the highest rated program in all of television (4.1).

15 Most-Viewed NBA Games Ever on Cable

#
Date
Game
Round
Net
Viewers (000)
1 Sun., 5/15/11 Heat/Bulls
ECF Gm. 1
 TNT
11,109
2 Sun., 5/22/11 Bulls/Heat
ECF Gm. 3
 TNT
10,889
3 Sun., 2/9/03 West/East
All-Star
 TNT
10,829
4 Thu., 5/26/11 Heat/Bulls
ECF Gm. 5
 TNT
10,407
5 Tue., 5/26/09 Cavs/Magic
ECF Gm. 4
 TNT
10,075
6 Wed., 5/18/11 Heat/Bulls
ECF Gm. 2
 TNT
10,036
7 Thu., 5/28/09 Magic/Cavs
ECF Gm. 5
 TNT
9,995
8 Tue., 5/24/11 Bulls/Heat
ECF Gm. 4
 TNT
9,770
9 Mon., 5/25/09 Lakers/Nuggets
WCF Gm. 4
 ESPN
9,731
10 Mon., 5/31/04 Wolves/Lakers
WCF Gm. 5
 TNT
9,438
11
 Wed., 5/27/09 Nuggets/Lakers
WCF Gm. 5
 ESPN
9,238
12
 Mon., 6/1/05 Pistons/Heat
ECF Gm. 7
 TNT
9,149
13
 Sun., 2/20/11 East/West
All-Star
 TNT
9,093
14 Mon., 5/28/12 Celtics/Heat
ECF Gm. 1
 ESPN
8,989
15
 Thu., 5/13/10 Cavs/Celtics
Semis Gm. 6
 ESPN
8,983

(Monday’s numbers from TV By the Numbers)

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  • Bessilver

    These types of #’s are what I expect from Boston vs Miami.