The Pacers-Knicks Eastern Conference Finals ended with a series — and season — high, if short of the previous conference final Game 6.
Saturday’s Knicks-Pacers NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 6 averaged 8.12 million viewers across TNT and truTV, down 7% from the previous conference final Game 6 — Celtics-Heat two years ago (8.71M) — but the most-watched game of the NBA season. The previous high was 7.91 million for Lakers-Warriors on Christmas, and the previous playoff high was 7.35 million for Lakers-Timberwolves in the first round.
The Pacers’ series-clinching win, which peaked with 9.91 million in the 10:15 PM ET quarter-hour, trails only Celtics-Heat two years ago as the most watched conference final Game 6 since 2018. Regardless of game, it ranks sixth over that span — behind Heat-Celtics Games 6 and 7 and Nuggets-Lakers Games 3 and 4 in 2023 and Celtics-Heat Game 7 in 2022 (9.88M).
The full, six-game Pacers-Knicks series averaged 6.96 million viewers — up 10% from the four-game Celtics-Pacers on ESPN/ABC last year (6.31M). Compared to last year’s TNT conference final, the five-game Mavericks-Timberwolves in the West, viewership increased 3% from 6.74 million.
Pacers-Knicks ranks as the most-watched ECF since 2014 that did not go seven games (seven series). The three series over that span to go seven — Cavaliers-Celtics in 2018, Celtics-Heat in 2022 and Heat-Celtics in 2023 — averaged 8.57, 6.98 and 7.42 million respectively.
Viewership outpaced the five-game Thunder-Timberwolves Western Conference Finals (5.59M) by 25%, the largest gap between conference finals since 2019, when the West outpaced the East series (which included Toronto, a Canadian market that does not count toward U.S. television ratings) by 34%.
Entering the NBA Finals, NBA playoff games have averaged 4.20 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, ESPNU, TNT and NBA TV — up 3% from last year (4.10M). With NBA TV and ESPNU excluded, the average of 4.5 million is still up 3% year-over-year.
Playoff games have averaged a 10.6 share — meaning that 10.6% of TV homes using television are watching in the average minute — the highest for the playoffs on record. (As linear television usage declines, live sports will tend to make up a greater and greater share of the audience.)
As usual, the NBA Playoffs has largely dominated the rest of television in the key young adult demographics. ABC, ESPN and TNT have won the night on television among adults 18-49 for 37 of 39 nights this postseason.
