The first NBA Finals to involve a Canadian team was the lowest rated and least-watched in a decade, but the numbers could have been worse.
The six-game Raptors-Warriors NBA Finals averaged an 8.8 rating and 15.14 million viewers on ABC, down 12% in ratings and 14% in viewership from last year’s four-game Warriors-Cavaliers series (10.0, 17.65M) and down 22% and 26% respectively from the five-game Warriors-Cavaliers series in 2017 (11.3, 20.41M).
Toronto’s win — the first championship for any “Big Four” Canadian team since the Blue Jays in 1993 — ranks as the lowest rated and least-watched NBA Finals in the U.S. since 2009 (Lakers-Magic: 8.4, 14.35M).
Figures do not include Canadian viewership, which is not tracked by Nielsen. Canadian averages were not immediately available; viewership ranged from 3.3 million for Game 1 to 8.0 million for Game 6.
The series marked a quiet end to a resurgent decade for the NBA Finals. It was just the second Finals in the 2010s to average a single-digit rating and fewer than 16 million viewers. The other was Heat-Spurs in 2014 (9.3, 15.52M). Both the 2014 Spurs and 2019 Raptors were led by Kawhi Leonard.
The numbers were still a far cry from the NBA’s mid-2000s lull. Of the seven NBA Finals from 2003-09, Raptors-Warriors averaged a higher rating than five and a larger audience than six.
Even so, this year’s Finals ranks as the sixth-lowest rated since 1981 and seventh-least watched dating back to 1987. Since hitting an 11.6 in 2015 — the highest average since 2001 — Finals ratings have declined in four straight years (with the caveat that viewership increased in two of those years).
Considering the weak start to the series, the numbers could have been even lower. The first four games topped out at an 8.0 rating and fewer than 14 million viewers, with Game 4 the lowest rated and least-watched Finals game since 2007.
Games 5 and 6 were considerably stronger, both scoring a double-digit rating and at least 18 million viewers. The turning point may have been Golden State facing elimination; Kevin Durant‘s dramatic return from — and subsequent departure due to — injury; or some combination thereof.
Even with the lower-than-usual numbers, the NBA Finals outdrew the most recent World Series. Last year’s five-game Red Sox-Dodgers matchup averaged an 8.3 and 14.13 million on FOX. It trailed the NCAA Tournament Final Four, which averaged a 9.5 and 16.23 million over three games on CBS.
The declines for this year’s Finals were less steep than for the Blue Jays’ two World Series wins in the 1990s. Ratings and viewership declined 16% for Blue Jays-Braves in 1992 (20.2, 30.01M), and then fell 14% and 18% respectively for Blue Jays-Phillies in 1993 (17.4, 25.22M). The most recent Stanley Cup Final to involve a Canadian team held up better, with Bruins-Canucks down just 6% in ratings and 11% in viewership in 2011 (2.7, 4.59M).
[Weighted averages calculated by SMW]
