After a merely decent start, the Warriors/Rockets series ended as the strongest draw of the postseason.
Game 5 of the Rockets/Warriors NBA Western Conference Finals earned a 5.6 final rating and 8.9 million viewers on ESPN Wednesday night, up 19% in ratings and 22% in viewership from Heat/Pacers last year (4.7, 7.3M). Compared to Thunder/Spurs Game 5 on TNT last year, ratings and viewership increased 30% and 28%, respectively, from a 4.3 and 6.9 million.
The Warriors’ series-clinching win ranks as the highest rated and most-watched game of the NBA Playoffs, topping the previous highs of 5.0 and 8.3 million for Monday’s Game 4. The series accounted for four of the top seven playoff games entering the NBA Finals.
Game 5 also stands as the top playoff game outside of the NBA Finals since Pacers/Heat Game 7 in 2013 (7.1, 11.6M) and the top Western Conference playoff game since Spurs/Thunder Game 6 in 2012 (6.0, 9.5M). Excluding series involving the Lakers, it earned the second-largest audience for any West playoff game since the current TV deal began in 2002 — trailing only Spurs/Thunder in ’12.
The full five-game series averaged a 4.7 rating and 7.4 million viewers, up 4% in ratings and 2% in viewership from last year’s six-game Heat/Pacers series (4.5, 7.2M) and up 52% and 50%, respectively, from the four-game Spurs/Grizzlies series in 2013 (3.1, 4.9M). Compared to last year’s six-game Spurs/Thunder series on TNT, ratings and viewership increased 12% and 9%, respectively, from a 4.2 and 6.8 million.
Warriors/Rockets ranks as the highest rated and most-watched Western Conference Finals since Thunder/Spurs in 2012 (5.0, 7.8M). It is also the first Western final since 2010 to outdraw the comparable series in the East, topping TNT’s four-game Cavaliers/Hawks series (4.2, 6.8M).
(Wed. numbers from ESPN Media Zone; series avg. from ESPN)
