The NBA season was a mixed bag in the Nielsens, with regular season viewership flat on ESPN/ABC and down double-digits on TNT.
Regular season NBA games averaged 1.99 million viewers across ESPN and ABC, even with last year and up 5% from two years ago. Separate averages for ESPN and ABC were not available. The final numbers are little changed than at the All-Star break, when ESPN was flat and ABC was down three percent.
Over on TNT, regular season games averaged 1.5 million viewers — down 12% from last year and, at best, the network’s second-smallest average since the 2007-08 season.
Averages for NBA TV were not immediately available.
Of the 148 games on ESPN, ABC and TNT that can be compared to last year, 85 declined — just over half (57%).
The season’s most-watched game was Lakers-Warriors on Christmas Day, which had a 5.3 rating and 10.21 million viewers on ESPN/ABC. Two other Christmas games, Sixers-Celtics (3.7, 7.35M) and Thunder-Rockets (3.1, 5.96M), took the next two spots. The top game outside of Christmas was Warriors-Celtics on ABC in January (2.6, 4.29M).
Despite missing the playoffs, the Lakers played in 13 of the 30 most-watched games this season, more than any other team. The Warriors ranked second, with 12. Only eight of the top 30 games involved neither team, with half of those coming on Christmas Day.
In Wednesday’s regular season finale, ESPN drew a 0.6 and 873,000 for Magic-Hornets — down a tick in ratings and 15% in viewership from last year (Bucks-Sixers: 0.7, 1.03M), and down a tick and 17% respectively from 2017 (Hawks-Pacers: 0.7, 1.05M).
The Jazz-Clippers nightcap had a 0.6 and 846,000, down a tick in ratings and 23% from last year (Jazz-Blazers: 0.7, 1.09M) and flat and down 3% respectively from 2017 (Pelicans-Blazers: 0.6, 874K).
The games were the least-watched on the final night of the season since 2015 (Hornets-Raptors: 717K).
