Though well below Monday’s 16-year highs, Warriors-Rockets ratings were none too shabby Wednesday night.
Wednesday’s Warriors-Rockets NBA Western Conference Finals Game 2 earned a 4.6 rating and 7.50 million viewers on TNT, up 31% in ratings and 30% in viewership from Spurs-Warriors on ESPN last year (3.5, 5.8M) but down a tick and 1% respectively from Thunder-Warriors on TNT in 2016 (4.7, 7.57M).
Compared to last year’s conference final Game 2 on TNT, Cavaliers-Celtics on a Friday night, ratings increased 53% (from 3.0) and viewership 47% (from 5.1M).
The Rockets’ season-tying win, which peaked with 8.7 million viewers from 10:45-11 PM ET, ranks as the second-most watched Game 2 of the West Finals since 2009 (Nuggets-Lakers: 7.9M). The 2016 game holds the top spot.
While Game 2 did well, it fell well short of Game 1 Monday night — declining 15% in ratings and viewership from the opener’s 5.4 and 8.8 million.
It also was no match for Game 2 of the Cavaliers-Celtics Eastern Conference Finals the night before, which had a 5.1 and 8.2 million on ESPN.
Locally, Wednesday’s game had a 17.3 rating in the Bay Area and a 13.7 in Houston — down 20% and 7% respectively from Game 1 (21.7; 14.7).
Through two games, Warriors-Rockets is averaging 8.16 million viewers on TNT — up 16% from Spurs-Warriors last year and up 1% from Thunder-Warriors in 2016 (8.15M). It ranks as the most-watched West Finals through two games since at least 2001.
[Numbers from Nielsen via Programming Insider 5.17; Turner Sports PR]
