On a night with three routs and an all-time finish, the one thing Tuesday’s NBA playoff games had in common was declining viewership.
Tuesday’s Thunder-Blazers first round NBA playoff Game 5 earned 3.11 million viewers on TNT, down 18% from last year (Spurs-Warriors: 3.79M) and down 2% from 2017 (Jazz-Clippers: 3.18M). Ratings were not immediately available.
The decline does come with a caveat. Portland’s series-clinching, buzzer-beating win aired opposite a competing playoff game — Nuggets-Spurs Game 5 on NBA TV (490K) — while the prior year games had no such competition.
Earlier in the night, Nets-Sixers Game 5 drew 2.28 million — down 37% from last year (Heat-Sixers: 3.64M) and down 45% from 2017 (Thunder-Rockets: 4.15M). Philadelphia won by 22 and at one point led 30-6.
On NBA TV, Magic-Raptors had 364,000 — down 46% from last year (Bucks-Celtics: 677K) and down 23% from 2017 (Grizzlies-Spurs: 470K). As previously noted, the Nuggets-Spurs nightcap had 490,000; there was no comparable window last year.
Through Tuesday, ratings and/or viewership have declined for 30 of the 33 NBA playoff windows that can be compared to last year. That includes 26 games that have declined double-digits in one or both measures, and 27 that have hit multi-year lows.
If low by NBA playoff standards, Tuesday’s games held up well compared to the rest of television. Thunder-Blazers was the night’s top program on all of television in adults 18-49 (1.3) and 18-34 (1.2). Nets-Sixers tied NBC’s “The Voice” for second in 18-49 (0.9) and had sole possession of second in adults 18-34 (0.8).
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 4.24]
