No Western Conference playoff game in the past 14 years earned better numbers than Thursday’s Game 5 between the Thunder and Warriors.
Game 5 of the Thunder/Warriors NBA Western Conference Finals had a 6.1 fast-national rating and nearly 10.0 million viewers on TNT Thursday night, up 42% in ratings and 44% in viewership from Spurs/Thunder in 2014 (4.3, 6.9M). TNT did not air a conference final Game 5 last year.
Compared to Game 5 of last year’s Rockets/Warriors WCF on ESPN, ratings increased 9% from a 5.6 and viewership 13% from 8.9 million.
The Warriors’ win, which peaked at an 8.1 and 13.6 million from 11:15-11:30 PM ET, ranks as the highest rated and most-watched Game 5 of the West finals since Lakers/Kings in 2002 (9.9, 14.5M). Overall, it delivered the largest audience for any Western Conference playoff game since Game 7 of that Lakers/Kings series (23.8M) and the highest rating since Spurs/Lakers Game 6 in the 2003 semifinals (6.5).
Regardless of conference, it was the highest rated and most-watched Game 5 of the conference finals since Celtics/Heat in 2012 (6.3, 10.3M) and the top playoff game overall (excluding the NBA Finals) since Pacers/Heat Game 7 in 2013 (7.1, 11.6M). While it was the most-watched Western Conference playoff game since 2002, it ranks only 11th with Eastern Conference games included (each of which involved LeBron James‘ Heat or Cavaliers).
For the season, Game 5 ranks as the highest rated NBA game on any network and the second-most watched, trailing only Cavaliers/Warriors on Christmas Day (11.1M).
Thunder/Warriors was the most-watched program of the night on television and also took top honors among adults 18-49. In the demo, both the game itself (4.0) and Inside the NBA (2.0) comfortably topped the night’s top non-NBA program, a rerun of The Big Bang Theory on CBS (1.4).
(Thu. numbers from Turner Sports, with additional info from ShowBuzz Daily)
