Viewership tapered off towards the end of the NBA Conference Finals, but still remained well above last year’s levels.
Friday night’s Game 6 between the Lakers and Nuggets drew a 5.1 U.S. rating and 8.5 million viewers on ESPN, up 19% in ratings and 31% in viewers from a 4.3 and 6.4 million for Celtics/Pistons Game 6 on the comparable date in ’08.
The 8.5 million viewers is off from 9.9 million for Game 4 and 9.2 million for Game 5, but still marks the third-most viewers ever for a basketball game on the ESPN family of networks.
Overall, the Lakers/Nuggets West Finals averaged a 5.3 U.S. rating and 8.7 million viewers on ESPN and ABC, up 33% in ratings and 47% in viewers from a 4.0 and 5.9 million for last year’s Celtics/Pistons East Finals, which also aired on ESPN/ABC.
Lakers/Nuggets finishes as easily the highest rated, most-viewed Conference Final ever on ESPN, topping the previous high set by the aforementioned Celtics/Pistons series. Additionally, the series is the highest rated, most viewed Western Conference Finals since Lakers/Kings in ’02.
The Conference Finals as a whole averaged a 5.3 U.S. rating and 8.7 million viewers on ESPN, ABC and TNT, up 29% and 43%, respectively, from a 4.1 and 6.1 million last year. The 5.3 rating also marks a whopping 71% boost over the 3.1 the Conference Finals averaged in 2007.
Overall, the 2009 NBA Conference Finals were the highest rated since 2002, and easily the highest rated since the NBA moved to its current cable-heavy television format.
The NBA Conference Finals outdrew last year’s MLB League Championship Series by 13% in ratings (5.3 to 4.7) and 24% in viewers (8.7 million to 6.7 million).
Source: ESPN
