TNT incurred steep declines for an unusually early NBA doubleheader on Tuesday.
Game 5 of the Pacers/Raptors NBA playoff series scored 1.8 million viewers on TNT Tuesday evening, down 48% from Mavericks/Rockets last year (3.3M) and down 56% from Wizards/Bulls in 2014 (4.0M).
The Raptors’ comeback win ranks as the second-least watched weeknight playoff game since at least 2009 (not counting NBA TV or ESPN2), ahead of only last year’s Bulls/Bucks Game 6 (1.7M). Keep in mind that the game had an unusually early 6 PM ET start time, the earliest for a weeknight playoff game since 2008.
Later in the night, Celtics/Hawks Game 5 had 3.0 million viewers — down 26% from Spurs/Clippers last year (4.0M) and down 37% from Warriors/Clippers in 2014 (4.7M).
The previous night’s games fared much better compared to last year. Clippers/Blazers Game 4 had 3.0 million on TNT, up 15% from Grizzlies/Blazers last year (2.6M) but down 24% from Spurs/Mavericks in 2014 (3.9M). Heat/Hornets Game 4 scored 662,000 on NBA TV, up 65% from Hawks/Nets last year (401K) and up 11% from Hawks/Pacers in ’14 (559K).
Monday’s only downer was Game 5 of Mavericks/Thunder, which pulled 2.5 million on TNT — down 14% from Bucks/Bulls last year (3.0M) and down 26% from Heat/Bobcats in 2014 (3.4M).
