Despite a move from linear television to streaming, the NBA Cup semifinals posted a healthy increase over last year.
Saturday’s NBA Cup semifinals averaged 1.67 million viewers on Amazon Prime Video, up 14% from last year, when the games aired on ABC and TNT. The double-digit increase is a sharp turnaround from the quarterfinals, which were down 20%.
Spurs-Thunder led the way with 2.01 million, up 6% from Rockets-Thunder on ABC in the same window last year (1.89M). That margin is well within the range that could be fully explained by Nielsen’s methodological changes this year, specifically its expansion of out-of-home viewing and shift to “Big Data + Panel” methodology. The household rating (which by definition does not include out-of-home viewing) declined a tick from last year’s 1.1 to 1.0.
Nevertheless, it is no small feat that a streaming audience on Prime Video came close enough to last year on broadcast television for methodology to matter.
The Spurs’ upset win, which peaked with 2.34 million in the 11:45 PM ET quarter-hour, officially ranks as the second-most watched NBA Cup semifinal (six games). Pelicans-Lakers in 2023, a 44-point blowout that aired opposite “Thursday Night Football,” holds the top spot with 2.17 million on TNT.
It also delivered the third-largest NBA audience on Prime Video so far, trailing the streamer’s post-NFL Black Friday doubleheader of Bucks-Knicks (2.11M) and Mavericks-Lakers (2.06M).
In the early window, Magic-Knicks averaged 1.33 million — up 31% from Magic-Hawks on TNT and truTV last year (1.0M). New York’s win, which peaked with 1.83 million in the 8 PM ET quarter-hour, posted the biggest year-over-year increase of any of the ‘knockout stage’ NBA Cup games on Prime.
As is typical for Prime Video, viewership was up disproportionately in the key young adult demographics — rising 71, 49 and 43 percent respectively among adults 18-34 (342K), 18-49 (793K) and 25-54 (857K).
For the season, NBA games on Prime Video are now averaging 1.23 million viewers, down 3% from last year’s equivalent windows. But viewership is up 10, 17 and 14 percent respectively among 18-34 (245K), 18-49 (604K) and 25-54 (646K).
