The return of one of the NBA’s biggest stars delivered stronger-than-usual numbers for TNT.
Thursday’s Raptors-Warriors NBA game, which marked Warriors G Stephen Curry’s first game since November, averaged a 1.2 rating and 1.86 million viewers on TNT — the network’s tenth-largest audience of the NBA season.
Toronto’s win was also the network’s highest rated and most-watched game since December that did not involve the Lakers (Rockets-Clippers: 1.3, 1.88M).
Ratings and viewership increased over 40% from both last year (Jazz-Nuggets: 0.85, 1.28M) and 2018 (T-Wolves-Blazers: 0.86, 1.28M). Notably, the game ranked second among all television programs Thursday in adults 18-34, behind only ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” (0.8 to 0.7).
Earlier in the night, Clippers-Rockets averaged 1.53 million — down 6% from last year (Sixers-Thunder: 1.63M) and down 23% from 2018 (Sixers-Cavaliers: 2.00M). Ratings for Thursday’s games were not immediately available.
In other recent action, ESPN averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.47 million viewers for Pelicans-Mavericks Wednesday night — down a tick in ratings and 9% in viewership from last year (Pelicans-Lakers: 1.1, 1.61M), but up a tick and 9% respectively from 2018 (Rockets-Clippers: 0.9, 1.35M).
Pacers-Bucks had a mere 0.6 (-33%) and 839,000 (-40%) earlier in the night. So far this season, 28 games on ESPN and TNT have failed to crack the one million viewer mark, compared to 19 all of last season.
On Tuesday night, Sixers-Lakers averaged a 1.0 and 1.45 million (+32%) and Nets-Celtics a 0.7 and 1.12 million (-10%) on TNT.
