Given the circumstances — a four-game sweep of a shorthanded, under-the-radar sixth seed — the NBA Eastern Conference Finals held up about as well as one could reasonably expect.
Monday’s Celtics-Pacers NBA Eastern Conference Final Game 4 averaged a 3.5 rating and series-high 6.63 million viewers across ESPN (6.43M) and ESPN2 (194K) — 6.67 million including ESPN Deportes (41K) — down a tick in ratings but up 1% in viewership from Celtics-Heat on TNT last year (3.6, 6.56M) and the most-watched ECF Game 4 since Celtics-Cavaliers in 2018 (7.94M).
Compared to last year’s Nuggets-Lakers West Finals Game 4 on ESPN, which was also a series-clincher, viewership fell 19% from 8.21 million.
The Celtics’ win, which peaked with 8.00 million, ranks fourth for the NBA season behind Timberwolves-Nuggets Game 7 in the second round and Games 1 and 3 of the Mavericks-Timberwolves Western Conference Finals.
Indiana played in four of the top seven games this season, more than any other team, though that is primarily a function of the Pacers having played a second round Game 7 and a conference final. (The same could be said of the Timberwolves, who have played in the top three and four of the top eight.)
The full four-game Celtics-Pacers series averaged a 3.4 rating and 6.31 million viewers, down 11% in ratings and 15% in viewership from last year’s seven-game Heat-Celtics ECF on TNT (7.42M). Compared to the first four games of last year’s series, viewership increased a fraction of a percent from 6.28 million.
Celtics-Pacers ranks in the middle-of-the-road among recent Eastern Conference Finals, placing fourth out of the past nine — behind the three seven-game series in 2018, 2022 and 2023.
Compared to last year’s four-game Nuggets-Lakers WCF on ESPN/ABC, viewership fell 20% from 7.90 million.
NBA Eastern Conference Finals ratings, viewership, past 30 years
(Monday’s HH rating via Programming Insider 5.29)
