Largely because last year’s games faced the NFL Draft, TNT generated massive increases for NBA playoff coverage Thursday night.
Game 3 of the Thunder/Grizzlies first round NBA playoff series earned 4.2 million viewers on TNT Thursday night, up 96% from Heat/Bucks opposite the NFL Draft last year (2.1M), and up 1% from Heat/Knicks absent such competition in 2012 (4.1M).
Thursday’s Game 3 tied Game 2 of the same series as the most-viewed of the playoffs on cable.
Later in the night, Clippers/Warriors Game 3 drew 3.9 million viewers — up 51% from Clippers/Grizzlies last year (2.6M), but down 16% from Thunder/Mavericks in 2012 (4.6M).
Including ABC’s two games, five of the six most-viewed playoff games thus far have involved Western Conference teams. The lone exception was Bobcats/Heat Game 1 on ABC last Sunday, which earned a 3.3 final rating and 5.4 million viewers.
(Thu. numbers from TV By the Numbers; Sun. numbers from Sports Business Daily)
