If anyone hoped that a competitive series would overcome the headwinds facing this year’s NBA Finals, Toronto took a 2-1 lead in front of the smallest Game 3 audience since 2007.
Wednesday’s Raptors-Warriors NBA Finals Game 3 earned a 7.8 rating and 13.10 million viewers on ABC, down 25% in ratings and 27% in viewership from last year (10.4, 17.85M) and down 31% and 35% respectively from 2017 (11.3, 20.10M), both of which were Warriors-Cavaliers matchups.
Toronto’s win tied the lowest NBA Finals rating since Spurs-Cavaliers Game 4 in 2007 (6.5), matching Magic-Lakers Game 1 in 2009. It was the least-watched Finals game since Magic-Lakers Game 1 (13.04M) and the least-watched Game 3 since Spurs-Cavaliers (9.49M).
All three games of this year’s finals have hit at least a ten-year low in ratings and viewership.
Of the 176 NBA Finals games dating back to 1988, Game 3 was just the 20th to earn less than an 8.0 rating. Of those, it was only the sixth that did not involve the San Antonio Spurs. It should be noted that sub-8.0 ratings are not uncommon for championship-level sporting events; 13 World Series games have failed to crack that mark just since 2012.
This year’s NBA Finals is the first to feature the Raptors, whose Canadian fanbase is not measured by Nielsen. In Canada, Game 3 had 3.8 million viewers across SportsNet and City TV, a figure that does not include viewership on RDS or CTV2. If one were to include the Canadian audience, Game 2 would combine for approximately 16.9 million viewers — down from the past two years, but ahead of the U.S.-only audience in 2016 and 2002-14.
In the U.S., Game 3 had a 4.6 rating in adults 18-49 — down 28% from last year (6.4) and down 36% from 2017 (7.2). The 4.6 is the lowest for any finals game in the demo since Game 4 in 2007 (4.0). It drew a 3.8 in adults 18-34, down 32% from last year (5.6) and down 43% from 2017 (6.7). As in 18-49, ratings in 18-34 were the lowest for any finals game since 2007.
Ratings also declined in adults 25-54 (5.2, -26%).
While Raptors-Warriors has been much more competitive than the previous Warriors-Cavaliers matchups, the series has yet to build any momentum. Game 3 hit series-lows in ratings, viewership, adults 18-34 and adults 18-49.
Notably, each game of the series has posted a 22% decline from the overnights to the final rating. By comparison, last year’s first three games fell 18-19%. The first three games in 2017 declined 15-16%. No finals game has had a bigger drop from the metered markets to the final nationals since 2003, when Game 4 of Spurs-Nets fell 24% from an 8.7 overnight to a 6.6 final.
[Numbers from Nielsen via Programming Insider 6.6; Canadian figures from SportsNet PR/Twitter 6.6]
