Despite a competitive series, the Eastern Conference Finals between the Pacers and Heat continues to trail previous years.
Game 5 of the Pacers/Heat NBA Eastern Conference Finals drew 8.5 million viewers on TNT Thursday night, virtually even with Thunder/Spurs Game 5 last year (8.5M), but down 18% from Heat/Bulls Game 5 in 2011 (10.4M).
Compared to Game 5 of last year’s Celtics/Heat ECF on ESPN, Thursday’s viewership declined 17% from 10.3 million.
Game 5 ranks as the most-viewed game of the 2013 NBA Playoffs, topping the previous high set by Game 1 on May 22 (8.2M). The seven most-viewed games of the playoffs have involved the Heat, with the Pacers/Heat series accounting for the top five.
Even so, all five games of the Heat/Pacers series have trailed the comparable game of Heat/Celtics last year and Heat/Bulls in 2011. Overall, the Heat/Celtics and Heat/Bulls series combined for 11 larger TV audiences than Thursday’s series-high, including eight games that earned more than 10 million viewers.
Of course, anything north of eight million viewers would have been considered a blockbuster result for the NBA four or five years ago. With that in mind, the numbers are quite impressive — just not on par with the past two years.
Game 5 was the top rated program of the night on television in the adults 18-49 demographic (3.7), beating the second-place program by 68% in the demo. In total viewers, the game ranked as the second-most watched program of the night, trailing a “The Big Bang Theory” re-run on CBS (9.3M).
The past four games of the series have won the night in the adults 18-49 demo. Game 1 ranked second, trailing the season finale of ABC’s “Modern Family” by a tenth (3.7 to 3.6).
(Thursday’s numbers from TV By the Numbers)
