The penultimate game of the NBA Western Conference Finals topped sports viewing for Tuesday, May 28.
Tuesday’s Timberwolves-Mavericks NBA Western Conference Finals Game 4 averaged a combined 6.87 million viewers across TNT (6.74M) and truTV (132K), down 16% from Nuggets-Lakers on ESPN last year (8.21M). Compared to last year’s conference final Game 4 on TNT — Celtics-Heat in the East — viewership increased 5% from 6.56 million.
After Game 1 came to within 5% of last year’s Lakers-Nuggets series, the subsequent three games have declined double-digit. As is typical for the NBA Playoffs, the Timberwolves’ win still delivered the top sports audience of the day.
Placing second, ESPN scored 2.07 million for Rangers-Panthers Game 4 in the NHL Eastern Conference Final — up 11% from Panthers-Hurricanes on TNT last year (1.86M). Compared to last year’s conference final on ESPN — Stars-Golden Knights in the West — viewership increased 31% from 1.58 million.
The Rangers-Panthers series was averaging 2.2 million viewers through four games, up 37% from last year’s four-game ECF (1.58M).
Further down the dial, Caitlin Clark played in yet another record-setting game as a Sparks-Fever WNBA game averaged 356,000 on NBA TV — the largest WNBA audience ever on the network, which became Nielsen rated in 2010. The previous mark was set just three days earlier by Fever-Aces on Saturday night, which drew 333,000.
The matchup of #1 pick Clark and #2 pick Cameron Brink of the Sparks previously set a record for ION Friday night. Clark has now played in the most-watched WNBA games ever carried by ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ION and NBA TV. (CBS also set a WNBA viewership record this season for a game that did not involve Clark between New York and Minnesota.)
Further down the dial, a Dodgers-Mets Major League Baseball game on MLB Network drew more viewers (236K) than the same matchup on TBS later in the night (228K).
