Aided by a bounce from Easter out-of-home viewing, the NBA Playoffs opened at a 25-year high.
The opening weekend of the NBA Playoffs averaged 4.4 million viewers across ESPN/ABC and TNT Sports, up 17% from last year and the highest average for the first weekend of play since 2000, when games averaged 4.9 million across NBC and TNT.
In particular, the ESPN networks averaged 4.49 million for their six games — up 15% from last year and the networks’ highest since acquiring rights in 2002 — and TNT Sports averaged 4.13 million for its two, an eight-year high.
Keep in mind that Nielsen did not begin tracking out-of-home viewing in its final nationals until 2020, and did not do so in 100 percent of markets until earlier this year. In addition, this year’s opening weekend coincided with the Easter holiday, a high-viewing holiday in the out-of-home era.
Sunday’s Magic-Celtics Game 1 led the way with 6.69 million viewers on ABC, up 44% from Mavericks-Clippers in the same window last year (4.66M) and the second-most watched opening weekend playoff game since the current media rights deal began in 2002. Nets-Celtics in 2022, which also aired on Easter, holds the top spot (6.90M).
The Celtics’ win, which peaked with 8.02 million viewers in the 5:45 PM ET quarter-hour, trails only Lakers-Warriors on another holiday — Christmas — as the most-watched game of the NBA season.
Earlier in the day, Oklahoma City’s 51-point rout of Memphis averaged 4.45 million — up 18% from Heat-Celtics last year (3.78M).
In the nightcap, Warriors-Rockets averaged 4.24 million on TNT — up 31 percent from Pelicans-Thunder last year (3.25M). Heat-Cavaliers led-in with 4.02 million, up 17% from Pacers-Bucks a year ago (3.44M). The Warriors’ win, which started after 9:30 PM ET, had a lower peak audience (4.49M) than its lead-in (4.69M).
TNT had its most-watched opening weekend of the postseason since 2017, but it should be pointed out that the network carried a third game in most prior years, usually in a lower-rated matinee window.
The good times were not limited to Easter, as three of four Saturday windows increased. Timberwolves-Lakers topped the charts with 5.84 million on ABC Saturday night, up 3% from Lakers-Nuggets in the same window last year (5.65M) and behind only Warriors-Kings two years ago (6.26M) as the most-watched game on the opening day of the playoffs since Kings-Jazz on NBC in 1999 (6.08M).
Eariler in the day, ESPN averaged 3.64 million for Clippers-Nuggets and 2.51 million for Bucks-Packers — up 17 and 15 percent respectively from Suns-Timberwolves (3.12M) and Magic-Cavaliers (2.19M) a year ago.
The lone game all weekend to decline from last year was Pistons-Knicks, which averaged 4.12 million on ESPN — down 2% from last year’s higher-profile matchup of Sixers-Knicks (4.19M). Despite the decline, New York’s comeback win trailed only last year’s game as the most-watched opening weekend game on the ESPN cable networks.
