Boosted by the Heat debut of LeBron James, TNT drew a record audience for what may have been the NBA’s last Opening Night for the foreseeable future.
Tuesday’s Heat/Celtics NBA season opener drew a 4.6 U.S. rating and 7.433 million viewers on TNT, up 77% in ratings and up 85% in viewership from last year (BOS/CLE: 2.6, 4.021 mil), and up 171% and 185%, respectively, from 2008 (CLE/BOS: 1.7, 2.612 mil).
Miami’s loss ranks as the most-viewed regular season NBA game ever on cable. The previous high was set by Bulls/Lakers in February 1996 (7.271 mil), which featured Michael Jordan against Magic Johnson, in one of Johnson’s first games back from retirement.
Excluding Christmas Day games, Heat/Celtics ranks as the highest rated regular season NBA game on any network since Lakers/Blazers on NBC in February 2002 (5.1). That game had a lead-in from the 2002 Daytona 500 (10.9).
Including Christmas Day games, Tuesday’s opener ranks as the fourth-highest rated game since ’02 — behind Heat/Lakers on Christmas Day 2004 (7.3), Celtics/Lakers on Christmas Day 2008 (5.3) and Lakers/Heat on Christmas Day 2005 (4.8).
The game also stands as the eighth-most viewed NBA telecast on cable in 2010, behind seven games of the 2010 NBA Playoffs.
Compared to another Turner Sports property, Tuesday’s game drew more viewers than every MLB Division Series game on TBS, and outdrew two of the network’s six ALCS telecasts (both of them afternoon games).
For some perspective, the last NBA season opener to generate as much hype as Heat/Celtics was arguably Wizards/Knicks in 2001. That game, Jordan’s first after coming out of retirement for the second time, drew a 2.7 U.S. rating and 3.884 million viewers on TBS opposite the 2001 World Series.
In the nightcap, the Lakers’ win over the Rockets drew a 2.4 U.S. rating and 3.719 million viewers, up 14% in ratings and 11% in viewership from last year (LAC/LAL: 2.1, 3.358 mil), and up 50% and 47%, respectively, from 2008 (POR/LAL: 1.6, 2.539 mil).
Overall, TNT averaged a 3.5 U.S. rating and 5.493 million viewers for NBA Opening Night, up 52% and 49%, respectively, from last year (2.3, 3.676 mil).
For local ratings in Miami, Boston, Cleveland, Houston and Los Angeles, click here.
(Turner Sports; 1996 Bulls/Lakers viewership from Sports Business Daily)
