If off from last year’s high, the NBA Playoffs got off to one of its better starts of late in year one of the league’s media rights deal.
The opening weekend of the NBA Playoffs averaged 4.3 million viewers across ABC, NBCUniversal and Prime Video (including Adobe Analytics for NBC games), down slightly from last year (4.4M) — when the games coincided with Easter Sunday and viewership hit a 25-year high — but the second-most watched opening weekend of the postseason since 2011.
The four Sunday games — all of which aired on broadcast television — averaged 4.87 million, actually up a hair from last year’s Easter Sunday slate, which included two non-exclusive games on cable (4.86M).
Note that Nielsen did not begin including out-of-home viewing in its estimates until 2020, only began doing so in 100 percent of markets a year ago, and is mere months into a new methodology that combines its traditional panel with “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes. Those changes will generally skew historical comparisons, and account for the close proximity to last year’s holiday-boosted figures.
In its first NBA postseason since 2002, NBC delivered the top sports audience of the weekend with Trail Blazers-Spurs Game 1 Sunday night. San Antonio’s win, which marked the playoff debut of Victor Wembanyama, averaged a combined 5.73 million viewers across Nielsen (2.6, 4.72M) and Adobe Analytics — up 35% from a Nielsen-only 4.24 million for last year’s non-exclusive Warriors-Rockets on TNT. (Wembanyama was concussed in Tuesday’s Game 2 and his status for the remainder of the series was not clear as of Wednesday.)
Magic-Pistons led in with a combined 5.0 million (2.2 rating, 4.24M per Nielsen), up 24% from last year’s Nielsen-only 4.02 million for Heat-Cavaliers on TNT. (NBC’s position is that because Nielsen does not track its streaming viewership, its combined Nielsen + Adobe audience figures are comparable to the Nielsen-only figures of other networks.)
ABC had the top Nielsen-measured audience of the weekend, as Saturday’s Rockets-Lakers Game 1 drew a 2.4 and 5.21 million — down 11% in viewership from Timberwolves-Lakers last year (5.84M).
The network also posted declines for its lopsided Sunday doubleheader. Oklahoma City’s 35-point rout of Phoenix averaged a 2.4 and 4.61 million and the Celtics’ 32-point blowout of the Sixers drew a 2.2 and 4.19 million — marking viewership declines of 31 and 6 percent respectively from last year’s pairing of Magic-Celtics (6.69M) and Grizzlies-Thunder (4.45M).
In the first-ever streaming-exclusive playoff games, Prime Video averaged 3.14 million for its Saturday tripleheader — down 6% from last year’s equivalent ESPN tripleheader, which was non-exclusive. As is typical for sports on streaming services, viewership fared far better versus last year among younger audiences, rising 12, 18 and 16 percent respectively in the demographics of 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54.
Hawks-Knicks Game 1 topped the charts with a 1.9 rating and 3.97 million viewers — down 4% in viewership from Pistons-Knicks on ESPN last year (4.12M). Timberwolves-Nuggets led in with a 1.6 and 3.49 million, also down 4% from last year’s Clippers-Nuggets opener (3.64M).
Raptors-Cavaliers was a far weaker link, as one might expect given the matchup. Cleveland’s easy win drew a 1.0 and 1.95 million, down 22% from Bucks-Pacers a year ago (2.51M).
The modest decline for Prime Video came on the heels of a double-digit increase for its Play-in Tournament coverage. The full six-game Play-in Tournament averaged 2.79 million, up 18% from last year on ESPN and TNT (2.38M), with viewership in 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 up 35, 34 and 29 percent respectively. Note that unlike last year’s first round playoff games on cable, which coexisted with local RSN coverage, the Play-in Tournament has always been exclusive to national TV.
Friday’s Warriors-Suns elimination game averaged 3.65 million, up 45% from Mavericks-Grizzlies on ESPN last year (2.51M). Orlando’s rout of Charlotte led in with 2.37 million, still up 11% from last year’s 2.13 million for Heat-Hawks on TNT.
Prime aired nine-straight windows to start the postseason between the Play-in Tournament and the start of the playoffs. Five increased (all in the Play-in) and four declined compared to last year’s linear windows.
