The NBA’s dream matchup continues to deliver in the ratings.
Monday’s Warriors-Lakers second round NBA playoff Game 4 averaged 7.52 million viewers on TNT, up 43% from Grizzlies-Warriors last year (5.27M) and the most-watched first or second round playoff game on cable since 2012, topping the previous high set by Game 1 last week (7.36M).
Across all networks, the Lakers’ narrow win ranks as the fifth-most watched regardless of network. (As with all multi-year highs, keep in mind that out-of-home viewing was not included in Nielsen final nationals prior to three years ago.)
The top eight games have occurred in the past two years, with seven involving Golden State and four coming from the current series. Saturday’s Game 3, which as previously noted averaged 8.37 million on ABC, ranks second only to Kings-Warriors Game 7 in the first round (9.84M).
Top first or second round NBA playoff audiences, past decade
Not counting the NBA Finals, Lakers-Warriors is the first playoff series since Warriors-Blazers in ’19 in which each of the first four games topped the seven million viewer mark.
The Warriors have now played in each of the seven most-watched games this postseason and the Lakers in five of the top eight.
Earlier in the night, Knicks-Heat Game 4 averaged 4.56 million — down 9% from Celtics-Bucks last year (5.03M) and just the second game of the second round to post a year-over-year decline. The first was Game 3 of the same series on ABC Saturday.
The NBA swept the key young adult demographics Monday night, with Warriors-Lakers at a 2.7 in 18-49, 2.3 in 18-34 and 3.05 in 25-54 and Knicks-Heat at a 1.5, 1.3 and 1.8 respectively.
Warriors-Lakers also delivered the largest overall audience in all of primetime Monday, marking the fourth time in as many games that the series won the night in viewership.
(Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 5.9)
