Despite hitting a three-year viewership high, the opener of the NBA Western Conference Finals could have been a better draw.
Game 1 of the Rockets/Warriors NBA Western Conference Finals drew a 4.4 final rating and 6.8 million viewers on ESPN Tuesday night, down 10% in ratings and 12% in viewership from Heat/Pacers on ABC last year (4.9, 7.8M) but up 42% and 41%, respectively, from Grizzlies/Spurs on ABC in 2013 (3.1, 4.9M).
Compared to Thunder/Spurs Game 1 on TNT last year, ratings and viewership increased by 10% and 8%, respectively, from a 4.0 and 6.4 million.
The Warriors’ win ranks as the highest rated and most-watched Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals in three years — since Thunder/Spurs in 2012 (4.8, 7.8M). With that said, the numbers look less impressive if one goes further back.
Tuesday’s game earned the third-smallest audience for any conference final opener since 2008 (13 telecasts), ahead of only Thunder/Spurs last year and Grizzlies/Spurs in 2013. Dating back to the start of the NBA’s television deal with Disney and Turner in the 2002-03 season, it ranks near the middle of the pack — 12th out of the 25 conference final openers.
For the playoffs, Game 1 earned the second-largest audience on any network — trailing only Game 4 of the Cavaliers/Bulls second round series on ABC (6.9M). Keep in mind that does not include Sunday’s Clippers/Rockets Game 7 on ABC, as final numbers were not immediately available.
It had a 2.9 rating among adults 18-49, tying the season finale of The Voice on NBC as television’s top program of the night. The NBA has at least tied television’s top rating in the demo in four of the last five nights a game has aired in primetime.
(Tue. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily, with additional info from ESPN Media Zone, TV By the Numbers)
