NBA Finals ratings hit another low Friday night, with Game 4 overnights the lowest in a dozen years.
Friday’s Raptors-Warriors NBA Finals Game 4 earned a 9.8 overnight rating on ABC, down 13% from last year (11.2) and down 22% from 2017 (12.6), both of which were Warriors-Cavaliers matchups.
The 9.8 is the lowest for Game 4 of the NBA Finals since 2007 (Spurs-Cavaliers: 7.8) and the lowest for any NBA Finals game since 2009 (Lakers-Magic Game 5: 9.4). Keep in mind Game 4 was just the fourth NBA Finals telecast on a Friday night — one of the lowest rated nights of the week — since 2003.
Each game of the series has set or tied at least a ten-year low, with Games 3 and 4 both the lowest since the record-low 2007 series.
The 9.8 is also the lowest of the series, falling narrowly behind Game 3 (10.0).
This year’s NBA Finals is the first to involve the Raptors, whose Canadian fanbase does not count toward U.S. television ratings. Local ratings in the Bay Area were not immediately available.
Game 4 snapped a streak of 55 straight NBA Finals games with a double-digit overnight rating. Single-digit overnights are not uncommon for other championship sporting events; three of last year’s five World Series games failed to crack a 10.0 in the metered markets.
Final ratings for each of the the first three games declined 22% from the overnight — the largest drop for any finals game since 2003. A similar decline for Game 4 would put final ratings at a 7.6.
NBA Finals Game 4 overnight ratings, past 20 years
[Numbers from Sports Business Daily‘s John Ourand/Twitter 6.8]
