With LeBron James fading as a television draw and the Raptors having little appeal of their own, the NBA Eastern Conference Finals opened with multi-year lows on ESPN.
Game 1 of the Raptors/Cavaliers NBA Eastern Conference Finals scored 5.4 million viewers on ESPN Tuesday night, down 21% from Rockets/Warriors last year (6.8M) and down 31% from Heat/Pacers on ABC in 2014 (7.8M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Compared to Game 1 of last year’s Cavaliers/Hawks East final on TNT, viewership dropped 21% from 6.8 million.
The Cavaliers’ blowout win ranks as the least-watched conference final opener since Grizzlies/Spurs on ABC in 2013 (4.9M) and the least-watched conference final game of any kind since Game 4 of that same series (5.2M). Among conference finals involving LeBron, it was the least-watched opener since Cavaliers/Pistons in 2007 (3.9M) and the least-watched game overall since Game 4 of that series (4.7M).
Among adults 18-49, Game 1 had a 2.3 rating — down 21% from last year’s Rockets/Warriors opener and second for the night on television behind NCIS on CBS (2.6).
Despite the steep drop on TV, Raptors/Cavaliers posted gains online. WatchESPN averaged 152,000 viewers per minute for the game, up 8% from last year (143K).
(TV numbers via ShowBuzz Daily; online numbers from ESPN)
