The NBA has gotten off to a slow start on national television this season, with one exception.
Despite the absence of LeBron James, Thursday’s Cavaliers/Thunder NBA regular season game drew 2.3 million viewers on TNT — up 85% from Clippers/Nets last year (1.2M), down 24% from Lakers/Knicks in 2012 (3.0M), and just the eighth NBA game on national TV this season to have a year-over-year increase in viewership.
Six of the eight have involved the Cavaliers and the other two had a Cavaliers lead-in. Not a single Cavaliers game on TNT or ESPN has had a decline from last year. The rest of the league has not fared nearly as well.
Excluding Cavaliers games, 20 of the 22 national telecasts that can be compared to last year have had declines in viewership. That includes three of the four games that aired this past Wednesday and Thursday.
Despite a big lead-in from Cavaliers/Thunder, TNT’s Rockets/Kings nightcap drew just 1.3 million viewers — down 3% from Rockets/Blazers last year (1.3M) and down 2% from Spurs/Blazers in 2012 (1.3M). ESPN had more pronounced declines on Wednesday night, with Pelicans/Mavericks (1.4M) down 9% and Heat/Nuggets (1.1M) down 24%.
The Cavaliers have not just fared better than the field compared to last year. In terms of raw numbers, Cleveland is also well ahead of the pack.
Cavaliers/Thunder drew the seventh-largest audience of the young season, with the Cavaliers having played in five of the top seven games. Overall, the Cavaliers’ seven national games this year rank among the 12 most-watched, with only the Opening Night doubleheader and three games with Cavalier lead-ins making up the rest of the list.
