NBA Christmas viewership took a hit, but the numbers held up reasonably well.
Wednesday’s Clippers-Lakers NBA Christmas special averaged 8.76 million viewers across ESPN and ABC, down 14% from Lakers-Warriors last year (10.21M), but up 76% from Rockets-Thunder in 2017, which aired on ABC alone opposite ESPN’s Monday Night Football (4.98M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Viewership slipped 1% from the featured Christmas matchup two years ago, LeBron James’ Cavaliers against the Warriors (8.82M). That game aired in an afternoon timeslot opposite the NFL.
It was James’ least-watched Christmas game since 2013, when his Heat faced the Kobe Bryant-less Lakers (7.83M). Keep in mind that with additional adjustments, viewership could edge past 2017.
If soft compared to James’ previous Christmas games, the Clippers’ narrow win was a strong draw by any other standard. It ranks among the ten most-watched NBA regular season games since 2008 and averaged more viewers than any of last year’s playoff games prior to the NBA Finals.
Locally, the game averaged a 12.0 rating in Los Angeles, the market’s highest for a regular season game since 2011.
Earlier in the day, ABC averaged 6.5 million for Rockets-Warriors — down 12% from last year (Sixers-Celtics: 7.35M) but up 4% from 2017 opposite the NFL (Wizards-Celtics: 6.23M).
Bucks-Sixers averaged 5.5 million, down 8% from last year (Rockets-Thunder: 5.96M) and down 38% from Cavaliers-Warriors in ’17 (8.82M). It was the day’s only window to hit a multi-year low.
Shifting to ESPN, Celtics-Raptors posted the day’s only increase — averaging 3.32 million viewers, up 5% from last year (Bucks-Knicks: 3.17M) but down 3% from 2017 (Sixers-Knicks: 3.43M).
ESPN also averaged 1.71 million for the Pelicans-Nuggets nightcap, down 22% from last year (Blazers-Jazz: 2.19M) but up 11% from 2017 on TNT (T’Wolves-Lakers: 1.54M).
[Nielsen estimates from ESPN, ShowBuzz Daily 12.27]
