As the NBA approaches the unofficial start of its season on Christmas Day, the usual suspects are drawing the biggest audiences.
Celtics-Warriors averaged a 1.7 rating and 3.14 million viewers on the season premiere of ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime last weekend, on par with Warriors-Sixers last year and the second-largest NBA audience of the season. Warriors-Lakers drew 3.55 million on TNT Opening Night.
On Tuesday night, Celtics-Lakers scored 1.70 million on TNT — up double-digits from last year (Suns-Blazers: ~1.4M) and the tenth-largest audience of the season. Ratings were not immediately available.
Ten of the 11 most-watched NBA games this season have involved the Warriors (five), Celtics (four) or Lakers (four). Golden State is the biggest draw of those three teams, having played in three of the top four, four of the top nine, and nine of the top 18 games this season.
Most-watched NBA games this season
Earlier Tuesday, Warriors-Bucks [1] averaged 1.51 million — down sharply from Warriors-Knicks last year, which saw Stephen Curry set the all-time three-point shooting record (~2.4M).
In other recent NBA action, Bucks-Mavericks averaged a 0.8 rating and 1.50 million viewers on ESPN last Friday night, preceded by Lakers-Sixers [2] at a 0.75 and 1.38 million. Both games posted a modest increase in viewership over last year (Celtics-Suns: ~1.4M; Nets-Hawks: ~1.3M).
ESPN also drew a 0.7 and 1.22 million for Celtics-Suns and a 0.6 and 1.02 million for Hawks-Knicks last Wednesday night, both down double-digits from last year (Blazers-Warriors: 1.0, ~1.6M; Bucks-Heat: 0.75, ~1.3M).
Going back to December 6, Lakers-Cavaliers [3] drew a 0.75 and 1.37 million on TNT and Mavericks-Nuggets a 0.59 and 1.04 million. Viewership increased slightly for the former (vs. Nets-Mavericks: ~1.3M) and declined sharply for the latter (Celtics-Lakers: ~1.6M).
[1] TNT coverage of Warriors-Bucks was blacked out in the Bay Area; [2] ESPN coverage of Lakers-Sixers was blacked out in Los Angeles; [3] TNT coverage of Lakers-Cavaliers was blacked out in Los Angeles.
