Back-to-back Celtics wins narrowed the Eastern Conference Finals, but viewership remains just so-so. Plus: NHL conference final viewership remains off of last year’s pace; plus additional ratings news.
Despite two Celtics wins, viewership remains lukewarm for NBA East Finals
Thursday’s Heat-Celtics NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 5 averaged a 3.3 rating and 6.24 million viewers on TNT, down 3% from last year’s game between the same teams on ESPN (3.4, 6.42M). Two nights earlier, Game 4 averaged a series-high 3.6 and 6.56 million — flat in ratings and up 3% in viewership from last year’s Game 4 on ABC (3.6, 6.40M).
Compared to TNT’s conference final last year, Warriors-Mavericks, Game 5 viewership declined 8% (from 6.79M) but Game 4 increased 6% (from 6.19M).
On both Tuesday and Thursday, Heat-Celtics was the most-watched primetime program on television and dominated in the key young adult demographics of 18-49, 18-34 and 25-54.
Panthers’ clincher hits conference final high, still down double-digits
Wednesday’s clinching Hurricanes-Panthers NHL Eastern Conference Final Game 4 averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.86 million viewers on TNT — down 17% in ratings and 21% in viewership from Rangers-Lightning on ESPN last year (1.24, 2.34M), but the most-watched game of this year’s conference final round.
In the West, Golden Knights-Stars bottomed out at a 0.7 and 1.26 million for Game 3 last Tuesday before recovering to a 0.9 and 1.58 million for Game 4 on Thursday. Viewership declined 32 and 21 percent respectively from the equivalent games of Avalanche-Oilers on TNT last year (1.85 and 1.99 million).
Plus: local ratings, MLB, softball
- Ratings for the first four games of Heat-Celtics ranged from 8.3 to 11.7 in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale market, compared to a range of 2.51 to 3.09 for the first three games of Panthers-Hurricanes, per the Miami Herald. Both conference finals are airing exclusively on TNT.
- Regional Major League Baseball action on FOX averaged a 1.1 rating and 2.05 million viewers last weekend, marking the third-largest audience of the season. The following night, Guardians-Mets averaged a 0.7 and 1.16 million on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball — down a tick in ratings and 18% in viewership from White Sox-Yankees last year (0.8, 1.42M) and the season’s second-smallest Sunday night audience.
- Thursday’s opening games of the NCAA softball super regionals — Georgia-Florida State and Oregon-Oklahoma State on ESPN2 — averaged 424,000 and 463,000 viewers respectively, both down from the equivalent windows last year (Texas-Arkansas: 575K; Clemson-Oklahoma: 469K).
(Nielsen estimates from Miami Herald 5.24, Programming Insider 5.24, 5.25, 5.27; ShowBuzz Daily 5.23, 5.26)
