The Celtics-Wizards series continues to move the needle compared to last year.
Thursday’s Celtics-Wizards NBA Playoffs Game 3 earned a 2.6 final rating and 4.1 million viewers on ESPN, up 13% in ratings and 16% in viewership from Heat-Raptors Game 2 last year (2.3, 3.5M). There was no comparable window in 2015.
All three games of the series have posted a double-digit increase over last year. By comparison, only one other second round game has posted an increase in viewership,* and that was a negligible 0.1% bump for Raptors-Cavaliers Game 2.
Keep in mind last year’s comparable games were not exactly blockbusters; none of the three (Hornets-Heat Game 7 and Heat-Raptors Games 1 and 2) cracked the four million mark.
Later in the night, Jazz-Warriors Game 2 had a 2.9 and 4.8 million viewers. There was no comparable window last year or in 2015. Five of six Warriors games this postseason have posted a smaller audience than the team’s corresponding game last year, though differences in TV windows and networks account for some of those declines.
For the night, Golden State’s win trailed only CBS’ The Big Bang Theory as television’s top program in adults 18-49 (1.85 to 2.5). The NBA easily topped the charts in adults 18-34, with Jazz-Warriors first (1.8) and Celtics-Wizards second (1.4). ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy was third (1.3).
* Does not include Game 2 of Rockets-Spurs or Jazz-Warriors, for which there were no comparable year-ago windows.
(Thu. numbers via Programming Insider 5.5)
