One of the least-entertaining NBA Finals ever played was also one of the least-watched in recent years.
The five-game Celtics-Mavericks NBA Finals averaged a 5.8 rating and 11.31 million viewers on ABC (including an ESPN simulcast of Game 3), down 5% in ratings and 3% in viewership from a five-game Nuggets-Heat series last year (6.1, 11.64M) and the lowest rated and least-watched Finals since the COVID-delayed Bucks-Suns series in July 2021 (5.2, 10.15M).
Excluding the two COVID-altered series — Bucks-Suns in ’21 and Lakers-Heat in the 2020 “bubble” (4.0, 7.66M) — this year’s Finals ranks as the lowest rated on record and least-watched since 2007 (Spurs-Cavaliers: 9.29M).
Monday’s clinching Game 5 averaged a 6.3 rating and 12.22 million on ABC, down 9% in ratings and 7% in viewership from last year’s Game 5 clincher (7.0, 13.08M) and the least-watched Finals Game 5 since Bucks-Suns on a July Saturday in ’21 (10.02M).
The Celtics’ coronation, which peaked with 13.28 million viewers, delivered the highest rating of the NBA season and second-largest audience. Game 2 holds the top spot in viewership with 12.31 million. This year marks only the second time since 2007 that no game of the Finals managed to 12.5 million, joining Lakers-Heat in the 2020 “bubble.”
The full NBA Playoffs averaged a 2.4 and 4.53 million, down 11% and 12% respectively from last year (2.7, 5.12M) and down 7% and 5% respectively from 2022 (2.6, 4.77M). Including the Play-in Tournament, the postseason averaged 4.44 million viewers — down 10% from last year (4.95M) and down 4% from ’22 (4.62M).
This year’s Finals was, on paper, a high-quality matchup pitting the NBA’s most-storied franchise against a big-market Mavericks team boasting one of the league’s biggest stars, Luka Doncic. Instead, it was a lopsided series rife with blowouts. Boston led by as many as 29 in Game 1, 21 in Game 3 and 26 in Game 5, while Dallas opened up a lead as massive as 48 in its lone win — easily the least-watched game of the series with fewer than ten million.
Game 2 was the only game in the series in which neither team led by as many as 15, and not surprisingly it was not only the most-watched game of the series, it was also the most-watched Game 2 in five years.
As for the playoffs, perennial stars LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry combined for a single playoff victory, with the latter of the three not playing a single game. For a time, it looked as if Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards was on the brink of a national breakthrough, but the Timberwolves’ conference final flop put an end to that.
With the NBA on the brink of a $75 billion media rights deal that will be the envy of all other sports properties (outside of the NFL), the ratings may not be of particular concern. Having said that, this year marked the fifth-straight Finals to average fewer than 13 million viewers — the longest streak since at least the tape-delay era. Only the mid-2000s came close, with four of five Finals from 2003-07 falling below the 13 million mark.
Given the sharp drop-off in television viewing, 11-12 million today is a far healthier figure than 20 years ago. It should be noted that this year’s Finals averaged the highest share of adults 18-34 on record, with even Game 4 scoring a 47 share in the demo. (Of course, the fewer adults 18-34 watching television, the easier it will be to attract a greater and greater share of those remaining.)
Nonetheless, the Finals has now gone five years without a single game hitting the 14 million mark — a figure that even the World Series has reached more recently (Game 6 in 2021).
