Viewers were all too eager to comply with Kevin Durant‘s since-walked-back recommendation: “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.”
Monday’s Warriors-Spurs NBA Western Conference Finals Game 4 earned 5.8 million viewers on ESPN, down a third from Warriors-Thunder on TNT last year (8.6M) and down 30% from Warriors-Rockets on ESPN in 2015 (8.3M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Compared to last year’s conference final on ESPN, viewership fell 6% from Cavaliers-Raptors Game 4 (6.1M) — no small statement, given how poorly that series performed.
Golden State’s sweep-clinching win was the least-watched Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals since Spurs-Grizzlies in 2013 (5.2M), and the fourth-least watched WCF game over that span. Two of those four came during the Warriors-Spurs series.
On Saturday, Game 3 of the series had a healthier 3.7 final rating and 6.3 million viewers — down 21% in both measures from Warriors-Thunder on a Sunday night last year (4.7, 8.0M) but up 3% and 12% respectively from Warriors-Rockets in ’15 (3.6, 5.7M).
Compared to last year’s Cavaliers-Raptors Game 3 on ESPN, ratings increased 12% from a 3.3 and viewership 7% from 5.4 million.
In adults 18-49, Games 3 and 4 both pulled a 2.1 rating — down 32% and 42% respectively from last year’s WCF (3.1, 3.6). Compared to last year’s ECF on ESPN, ratings in the demo were flat on Saturday and down 16% on Monday. In adults 18-34, Game 3 (2.0) was down a third from last year’s WCF (3.0) but up 11% from last year’s ECF (1.8), and Game 4 (1.8) was down 49% from the former (3.5) and down 22% from the latter (2.3).
