Kings-Warriors continues to lead the way among NBA playoff series as the first week of play draws to a close.
Thursday’s Kings-Warriors first round NBA playoff Game 3 averaged 4.12 million viewers on TNT, up 11% from Warriors-Nuggets last year (3.70M). All three games of the series have increased double-digits from last year’s equivalent windows — each of which featured the Warriors — and rank among the five most-watched games of this year’s postseason.
Viewership held up despite direct competition from Suns-Clippers Game 3 on NBA TV, which averaged 478,000 — up 14% from Mavericks-Jazz a year ago (420K). As expected given the shift from TNT to NBA TV, the Game 3 audience paled in comparison to Game 2 of the series two nights earlier, which averaged 3.86 million (+31%).
Like Warriors-Kings, all three games of Suns-Clippers have increased double-digits over last year’s equivalent windows. Those two series account for six of the nine year-over-year gains this postseason, along with the first two games of Nets-Sixers and Tuesday’s Knicks-Cavaliers Game 2 on TNT (2.72M, +0.4%).
They also account for five of the eight largest audiences, along with the openers of Lakers-Grizzlies, Knicks-Cavaliers and Heat-Bucks.
On the flip side, Lakers-Grizzlies posted a second-straight decline on Wednesday as Game 2 averaged a 2.1 rating and 3.80 million viewers on TNT — down 4% from Nets-Celtics a year ago (2.2, 3.96M). Keep in mind the game had a 4:30 PM ET start in Los Angeles, the earliest for a weeknight Laker playoff game (excluding the “bubble”) since 2003.
All three Wednesday games declined, with the Wolves-Nuggets nightcap (2.54M) down 21% and the Bucks’ rout of the Heat (376K) down 40% on NBA TV.
Rounding out the recent slate, Tuesday’s Hawks-Celtics Game 2 on NBA TV (520K) and Thursday’s Sixers-Nets Game 3 on TNT (3.08M) declined 19% and 4% respectively from last year’s equivalent windows, both of which pit the Grizzlies against the Timberwolves (645K; 3.20M).
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 4.19, 4.20, 4.21, ShowBuzz Daily 4.19, 4.20, 4.21)
