A second-straight thriller sent NBA playoff ratings to a 2018 high, though the numbers still fell short of the last Western Conference Finals Game 5.
Thursday’s Warriors-Rockets NBA Western Conference Finals Game 5 had a 5.6 rating and 9.236 million viewers on TNT, down 8% in ratings and viewership from Thunder-Warriors in 2016, the previous WCF Game 5 (6.1, 10.0M). Last year’s Warriors-Spurs West Finals ended in a sweep.
Compared to last year’s conference final on TNT, Cavaliers-Celtics, ratings increased 60% (from 3.5) and viewership 59% (from 5.8M).
Houston’s narrow win, which peaked with 12.2 million viewers from 11:15-11:30 PM ET, ranks as the second-most watched Game 5 of the West Finals since 2009 (Lakers-Nuggets: 9.238M).
Regardless of game, it was the eighth-largest Western Conference Finals audience since 2002. Golden State has played in six of the top ten.
It also ranks as the most-watched NBA game of the season, surpassing Game 5 on Wednesday (8.9M). Golden State has played in five of the top six games — four in this series and Cavaliers-Warriors on Christmas Day (8.8M).
Game 5 had a 3.6 rating in adults 18-49 and a 3.1 in adults 18-34 — down 10% and 18% respectively from the last WCF Game 5 in 2016 (4.0; 3.8). Compared to last year’s ECF Game 5 on TNT, ratings increased 64% and 55% respectively from a 2.2 and 2.0.
Warriors-Rockets was easily the night’s top television program in both demos (and adults 25-54). Thursday was the first night of the summer television season, making that distinction less impressive than in previous nights.
Locally, the game delivered a 20.8 rating in the Bay Area — down 12% from Game 5 in 2016 (23.8). It had a 16.5 in Houston, the market’s highest on record for a Rockets game on TNT but down 4% from the team’s previous WCF Game 5 in 2015 (17.1).
[Numbers from Turner Sports PR; Programming Insider 5.25]
