The journey to a third straight Cavaliers-Warriors NBA Finals generated less interest than usual.
The NBA Playoffs has averaged 3.95 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV entering the NBA Finals, per Sports Business Daily, down 6% from last year (4.18M), down 3% from 2015 (4.06M) and the smallest average since NBA TV became a Nielsen rated network in 2010-11.
Playoff viewership had been on the rise through the first two rounds, with the first round hitting a three-year high. The conference finals dragged down the numbers, with Warriors-Spurs (6.5M) and Cavaliers-Celtics (6.3M) the second-least watched in their respective conferences since 2008.
Despite the lower numbers, the NBA Playoffs has been a dominant television draw in the advertiser-friendly demographics of adults 18-49 and adults 18-34. In the former, it was the top program on all of television 24 times in 37 days (excluding days in which no games were played).
[Avg. from Sports Business Daily 6.1]
