Topping another strong week of NBA ratings, the league’s perennial finalists sent TNT to a six-year high.
Warriors-Cavaliers had 4.7 million viewers on the NBA on TNT Monday night, up 4% from last year (4.5M) and up 29% from 2015 (3.6M), which featured the same matchup. Ratings were not immediately available.
Outside of Opening Night, Golden State’s win was the most-watched regular season game on cable in six years — since Knicks-Heat on TNT in February 2012 (5.1M).
For the season, it ranks fifth behind Celtics-Cavaliers on opening night (5.6M) and ABC’s three Christmas Day games — Rockets-Thunder (5.0M), Wizards-Celtics (6.2M) and Cavaliers-Warriors (8.8M).
The Rockets-Clippers nightcap had 1.9 million viewers, up 13% from last year (Thunder-Clippers: 1.7M) and up 23% from 2016 (Rockets-Clippers: 1.6M). Lakers-Grizzlies opened TNT’s tripleheader with 1.0 million, the most-watched afternoon game on Martin Luther King Day since at least 2010.
Shifting to ESPN, Lakers-Thunder had 1.5 million viewers (+17%) and Nuggets-Clippers 1.1 million (-60%) Wednesday night. The latter was just the third nationally televised game this month to decline from last year (18 telecasts).
On Sunday, Blazers-Timberwolves had a 0.7 rating (+180%) and 1.1 million (+198%). Last year’s comparable game posted unusually low numbers due to NFL playoff competition.
Finally, last Friday’s Warriors-Bucks game had a 1.2 (+50%) and 1.8 million (+56%), while the Rockets-Suns nightcap scored a 0.85 (+21%) and 1.3 million (+22%).
Entering Thursday’s action, the NBA season has averaged 2.10 million viewers across ESPN, ABC and TNT — up 15% from last year (1.83M) and up 6% from two years ago (1.99M).
[Numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 1.18, 1.17a, 1.17b, 1.16, Programming Insider 1.16]
