The Warriors have an air of inevitability (though you could say the same thing last year), but that has not had a negative impact on the ratings.
Saturday’s Warriors-Blazers NBA Playoffs Game 3 earned a 2.6 final rating and 4.4 million viewers on ESPN, up 44% in ratings and 57% in viewership from Clippers-Blazers last year (1.8, 2.8M) and up 53% and 67% respectively from Grizzlies-Blazers in 2015 (1.7, 2.6M).
Golden State’s comeback win was the highest rated and most-watched first round game on ESPN since Rockets-Blazers Game 6 in 2014 (2.9, 4.3M). Figures do not include the 131,000 who streamed the game on WatchESPN, a first round record for the platform.
Game 4 of the series on Monday night had 3.9 million on TNT, up 32% from Clippers-Blazers last year (3.0M) and up 52% from Grizzlies-Blazers in 2015 (2.6M). Ratings were not immediately available. Saturday’s game won the night on TV in adults 18-49 (1.8) and Monday’s tied for second (1.6).
It is worth noting that viewership trailed the comparable games of Warriors-Rockets last year, which drew 4.6 million in Game 3 and 7.2 million in Game 4. Keep in mind those games had better timeslots — Thursday night as opposed to Saturday, and Sunday on ABC as opposed to Monday on TNT.
In other action, Celtics-Bulls Game 4 drew a 2.6 and 4.3 million on TNT Sunday evening, up 37% in ratings and 39% in viewership from Hawks-Celtics last year (1.9, 3.1M) and up 63% and 81% respectively from Raptors-Wizards in 2015 (1.6, 2.4M). Later in the night, Clippers-Jazz declined 12% in ratings (from 2.77 to 2.45) and the same amount in viewership (from 4.5M to 4.0M) versus Cavaliers-Pistons last year.
On Saturday, Spurs-Grizzlies Game 4 had a 2.1 (+17%) and 3.4 million (+24%) on ESPN. Wizards-Hawks Game 3 had a 1.6 (flat) and 2.4 million (-2%) earlier in the day, but Game 4 perked up to 3.0 million on Monday (+19%). Raptors-Bucks Game 4 had a 1.3 (flat) and 1.9 million (+4%) on TNT Saturday before dropping to 534,000 for Monday’s Game 5 on NBA TV (-19%).
Through Monday, the NBA Playoffs has averaged 3.6 million viewers on TNT (+13%) and 420,000 on NBA TV (+3%). Average viewership for ESPN/ABC was not immediately available.
