While the Warriors set NBA ratings records on TNT, the Cavaliers played in front of smaller crowds on ESPN.
Game 6 of the Cavaliers/Raptors NBA Eastern Conference Finals earned a 3.5 final rating and 5.7 million viewers on ESPN Friday night, down 17% in ratings and viewership from Pacers/Heat in 2014 (4.2, 6.9M). There was no Game 6 in last year’s conference finals.
The Cavaliers’ series-clinching win was the lowest rated and least-watched conference final Game 6 in 11 years, since Heat/Pistons on TNT in 2005 (3.2, 5.0M). Dating back to the start of the NBA’s current television deals in the 2002-03 season, only one other Game 6 has had a smaller audience — Pacers/Pistons on ESPN in 2004, which Detroit won 69-65 (5.5M).
All six games of the Cavaliers/Raptors series hit a multi-year low in ratings and viewership.
Despite the lower numbers, Game 6 easily won a low rated summer Friday in adults 18-49, with its 2.2 rating more than doubling the night’s top non-NBA program — Dateline on NBC (0.9). The series won the night on television four times and helped ESPN rank as cable’s top network on all six nights.
The full Cavaliers/Raptors series averaged a 3.5 rating and 5.6 million viewers, ranking as the lowest rated and least-watched conference final since Spurs/Grizzlies in 2013 (3.1, 4.9M) and tied with 2007 as the lowest rated Eastern Conference Finals in a dozen years — since Pistons/Pacers on ESPN in 2004 (3.1). It was the first conference final since Spurs/Grizzlies in which no game hit a 4.0 rating.
As noted throughout the series, Cavaliers/Raptors was the first NBA conference final to involve a Canadian team. While Toronto is a large market, it does not count toward U.S. television ratings — making it less appealing for the networks than even the smallest U.S. markets. It was the second “final four” playoff series in the past year to feature a Canadian team, with last year’s Royals/Blue Jays MLB ALCS averaging a record-low 3.9 million viewers on FOX and Fox Sports 1 last October.
The Eastern Conference Finals trailed the Warriors/Thunder Western Conference Finals on TNT by 43%, the largest gap between conference finals in at least a decade. This year marked just the second time since 2011 that ESPN has trailed TNT in the conference finals, joining 2013.
Ratings/Viewership For NBA Conference Finals on ESPN vs. TNT
Past six seasons
| Year | ESPN | TNT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game | Rtg. | Vwrs. | Game | Rtg. | Vwrs. | |
| 2016 | Cavaliers 4 Raptors 2 |
3.5 | 5.6M | Warriors 4 Thunder 3 |
5.9 | 9.9M |
| 2015 | Warriors 4 Rockets 1 |
4.7 | 7.4M | Cavaliers 4 Hawks 0 |
4.2 | 6.8M |
| 2014 | Heat 4 Pacers 2 |
4.5 | 7.2M | Spurs 4 Thunder 2 |
4.2 | 6.8M |
| 2013 | Spurs 4 Grizzlies 0 |
3.1 | 4.9M | Heat 4 Pacers 3 |
5.2 | 8.4M |
| 2012 | Heat 4 Celtics 3 |
6.2 | 10.1M | Thunder 4 Spurs 2 |
5.0 | 7.8M |
| 2011 | Mavericks 4 Thunder 1 |
4.3 | 6.9M | Heat 4 Bulls 1 |
6.2 | 10.4M |
(Fri. numbers via Programming Insider; series avg. from ESPN)
