An early season schedule packed with marquee games has given NBA TV ratings a big boost.
Warriors-Thunder scored a 1.9 rating and 3.2 million viewers on ESPN’s NBA Wednesday last week, up 171% in ratings and 191% in viewership from Spurs-Hornets last year (0.7, 1.1M). ESPN Nielsen ratings now include streaming viewership on TV devices; comparisons are to last year’s TV-only numbers.
Oklahoma City’s blowout win delivered the largest NBA audience since Opening Night, topping Warriors-Celtics on TNT six nights earlier (3.0M).
Excluding Christmas, it was ESPN’s most-watched regular season game since the final night of the 2015-16 season, when the Warriors’ record 73rd win and Kobe Bryant‘s final game had 3.6 and 3.5 million respectively.
It was the fourth game this season to earn at least three million viewers, the most prior to Thanksgiving since 2010.
For the night, it ranked third in adults 18-49 (1.2) — trailing a Charlie Brown special on ABC (1.7) and Survivor on CBS (1.4) — and first in adults 18-34 (1.2).
Aided by the big lead-in, the Lakers-Kings nightcap had a 1.3 (+63%) and 2.2 million (+67%).
NBA games are now averaging 2.1 million viewers across ESPN and TNT, up 19% from last year (1.75M) and 14% from 2015 (1.83M). ESPN in particular has averaged 1.9 million (+24%).
[Numbers from ESPN PR, Programming Insider 11.28]
