After a series-low in Game 4, the NBA Finals concluded with a four-year high in Game 5.
Monday’s Heat-Nuggets NBA Finals Game 5 averaged a 7.0 rating and 13.08 million viewers on ABC, edging Celtics-Warriors last year (7.0, 13.03M) as the most-watched Game 5 of the Finals in four years — since Warriors-Raptors in 2019 (18.60M). Game 5 was the first of the series to increase over last year, no small feat given the higher profile of last year’s finalists.
(Keep in mind that the two other game fives over that span aired months out-of-season due to COVID-related scheduling adjustments. Bucks-Suns averaged 10.02 million on a Saturday night in July 2021 and Heat-Lakers 9.19 million in a fanless “bubble” in October 2020.)
Denver’s title-clinching win, which peaked with 17.83 million viewers, trails only last year’s Warriors-Celtics Game 6 (13.99M) as the most-watched NBA game since the league returned from hiatus in July 2020.
The five-game Nuggets-Heat NBA Finals averaged a 6.1 rating and 11.64 million viewers on ABC, down six percent from Warriors-Celtics last year, which went six games (6.5, 12.40M). Ratings and viewership easily outpaced the two out-of-season COVID-era Finals, Bucks-Suns in July 2021 (5.2, 10.15M) and Lakers-Heat in the fall 2020 “bubble” (4.0, 7.66M).
Excluding the COVID-era series, Nuggets-Heat ranks as the lowest rated NBA Finals on record — falling below the previous mark of 6.2 set by Spurs-Cavaliers in 2007 — and least-watched since that 2007 series (9.29M).
Average NBA Finals viewership, past 30 years
Despite the decline for the Finals, the complete NBA Playoffs averaged 5.12 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV — up 7% from last year (4.77M) and the most-watched postseason since 2018 (5.2M). The previous high over that span was 4.83 million in 2019. With NBA TV excluded, the average was 5.47 million — still the highest since 2018 (5.8M).
The strength of the first three rounds of playoffs — which averaged 4.71 million viewers, the highest pre-Finals average since 2012 — made up for the decline in Finals viewing.
Compared to other sports, the Finals averaged slightly fewer viewers than the six-game Phillies-Astros World Series on FOX last fall (11.78M). The events averaged the same 6.1 rating. Game 5 delivered the second-largest basketball audience of the year, trailing only UConn-San Diego State in the NCAA men’s national championship (14.7M).
As goes without saying, Game 5 was the most-watched of the playoffs — and NBA season — topping the previous high of 12 million for Heat-Celtics Game 7 on TNT in the Eastern Conference Finals. By virtue of making the Finals and playing a seven-game conference final, Miami played in the six most-watched games this season and seven of the top eight.
Game 5 was not the top game of the postseason in the key demos, trailing Heat-Celtics Game 7 in 18-49 (4.2 to 4.0) and 18-34 (3.8 to 3.3) and tying that game in 25-54 (4.6). Compared to last year’s Game 5, those demo ratings were flat, up 6% and down 1% respectively (vs. 4.2, 3.1 and 4.65).
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 6.13, ShowBuzz Daily 6.13)
