With at least one more game to go, Lakers-Warriors continues to generate some of the largest early round NBA playoff audiences in the past decade.
Wednesday’s Lakers-Warriors second round NBA playoff Game 5 averaged 7.55 million viewers on TNT, surpassing Game 4 (7.52M) as the most-watched first or second round playoff game on cable since 2012 (Lakers-Thunder Game 5: 8.15M).
The Warriors’ win increased 56% from last year’s Warriors-Grizzlies Game 5, in which Golden State trailed by as many as 55 points (4.82M).
Lakers-Warriors is the first NBA playoff series since the 2018 Western Conference Finals in which each of the first five games averaged at least seven million viewers. The series now accounts for half of the ten largest first or second round audiences in the past decade, across all networks.
Largest first or second round NBA playoff audiences, past decade
Overall, seven games this postseason have averaged at least seven million viewers — tied with 2012 as the most in the first two rounds of playoffs since 2011 (8). With Lakers-Warriors going at least six games and potentially as many as three game sevens Sunday, it is likely that this postseason will surpass that 2011 mark.
As with all multi-year highs, keep in mind that out-of-home viewing was not tracked in Nielsen’s final nationals until three years ago. In all probability, a game like Warriors-Rockets Game 6 in 2019 (7.33M without aid of out-of-home) had more viewers all things being equal.
Earlier Wednesday, Heat-Knicks Game 5 averaged 4.39 million — down 8% from Bucks-Celtics a year ago (4.79M). The past three games of the Heat-Knicks series have declined from last year’s equivalent windows (Bucks-Celtics in all three cases), marking the only declines of the second round.
The Heat-Knicks series accounts for four of the seven smallest second round audiences this season, a continuation of last year’s trend — when Miami’s series against Philadelphia accounted for the five smallest.
On Tuesday night, Sixers-Celtics Game 5 averaged 4.88 million, up 29% from Sixers-Heat a year ago (3.78M). The Suns-Nuggets nightcap drew 4.80 million, up 16% from a Mavericks-Suns blowout last year (4.15M).
While Lakers-Warriors has topped seven million viewers for each game, no other second round game has exceeded 5.38 million (Heat-Knicks Game 1 on ABC).
As usual, the NBA swept the key adult demographics of 18-49, 18-34 and 25-54 on both Tuesday and Wednesday. It also scored the largest overall audience on television Wednesday with Lakers-Warriors, marking the first time the series has been the day’s most-watched show and the fifth time in as many games that it has won the night in primetime.
(Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 5.11)
