A pair of dramatic games helped NBA Opening Night ratings surge over last year.
Tuesday’s Celtics-Cavaliers NBA season opener had 5.6 million viewers on TNT, up 95% from Knicks-Cavaliers last year (2.9M), up 62% from Cavaliers-Bulls in 2015 (3.5M), and the second-largest opening night audience on record. Ratings were not immediately available.
Heat-Celtics in 2010, which marked LeBron James‘ Miami debut, holds the top spot with 7.35 million.
Cleveland’s win, which peaked with 6.7 million viewers from 10:15-10:30 PM ET, earned the fifth-largest NBA regular season audience ever on cable — trailing Celtics-Knicks on Christmas 2011 (5.9M), Heat-Cavaliers in 2010 (7.1M), Bulls-Lakers in 1996 (7.27M) and the aforementioned Heat-Celtics game.
This year’s game benefitted from the NBA moving up the start of the season by one week. The past three years, Opening Night viewership has been hampered by competition from the World Series. This year, Opening Night aired opposite considerably weaker League Championship Series games.
Head-to-head, Celtics-Cavaliers earned a smaller audience than the competing Cubs-Dodgers MLB NLCS Game 3 on TBS (6.0M), but came out ahead in adults 18-49 (2.5 to 1.8), adults 18-34 (2.8 to 1.6) and adults 25-54 (2.4 to 2.0). It ranked second for the night on TV in adults 18-49, trailing the NBC show “This is Us” (2.9), and won the night in adults 18-34.
In Tuesday’s nightcap, Rockets-Warriors scored 4.2 million viewers — up 22% from Spurs-Warriors last year (3.5M) and up 68% from Pelicans-Warriors in 2015 (2.5M). It was the most-watched late Opening Night game since Mavericks-Lakers in 2012 (4.3M).
Houston’s last-second win was the seventh-most watched Opening Night game since at least 2000. Overall, the complete Opening Night doubleheader averaged 4.9 million viewers, up 53% from last year and the highest since 2010.
Cleveland led all markets for Celtics-Cavaliers with a 20.1 rating, up 121% from last year, when coverage aired opposite an Indians World Series game (9.7), and up 20% from 2015 (16.8). Boston turned in a 7.8. The Bay Area was the top market for Rockets-Warriors with a 14.8, up 19% from last year (12.4) and up 66% from 2015 (8.9). Houston, presumably preoccupied with the Astros, chipped in a 3.8.
[Tue. numbers from Turner Sports PR 10.18, ShowBuzz Daily 10.18, Houston Chronicle‘s David Barron 10.18]
