Though no match for the NFL, the NBA’s featured Christmas Day game still delivered big numbers for ABC.
The Warriors/Cavaliers NBA Christmas special had a 4.9 final rating and 10.1 million viewers on ABC Sunday afternoon, up 53% in ratings and 73% in viewership from Bulls/Thunder last year (3.2, 5.9M) and up 48% and 69% respectively from Thunder/Spurs in 2014 (3.3, 6.0M).
Compared to last year’s Cavaliers/Warriors Christmas game, which aired in the late afternoon window, ratings fell 14% from a 5.7 and viewership 9% from 11.2 million.
The Cavaliers’ last-second win, which peaked with 11.8 million viewers in the fast-nationals, ranks as the most-watched early afternoon Christmas Day game since Heat/Lakers in 2004 (13.2M). It also tied the highest rating over that span, matching Heat/Mavericks in 2011. Regardless of timeslot, Sunday’s game delivered the fifth-largest NBA regular season audience since at least the 2000-01 season.
Figures do not include the streaming audience of 87,000, which brought viewership up to 10.2 million.
The numbers are especially impressive considering the circumstances. Not only did the game air in an earlier-than-usual timeslot, it also had to contend with tougher-than-usual competition from the Ravens/Steelers NFL game on NFL Network, which had 14.8 million viewers. While Ravens/Steelers was the bigger draw overall, Warriors/Cavaliers averaged a larger audience during the 45 minutes the events aired head-to-head.
ABC’s other Christmas Day game did not fare nearly as well opposite the NFL. Bulls/Spurs had a 2.8 and 5.5 million, down 51% in ratings and viewership from last year’s Cavaliers/Warriors game, and down 42% and 41% respectively from Cavaliers/Heat in 2014 (4.8, 9.3M). Compared to last year’s Bulls/Thunder undercard, ratings fell 13% and viewership 7%.
The Spurs’ win ranks as the lowest rated Christmas Day game on a broadcast network since Celtics/Nets in 2002 (2.5) and the least-watched since Thunder/Knicks in 2013 (5.47M to 5.45M).
(Sun. numbers from ESPN)
