With Cleveland staving off elimination, Celtics-Cavs ratings hit another multi-year high Friday night.
Friday’s Celtics-Cavaliers NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 6 had a 4.9 rating and 8.09 million viewers, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 40% in ratings and 42% in viewership from Cavs-Raptors in 2016, the most recent ECF Game 6 (3.5, 5.7M). Neither of last year’s conference finals exceeded five games.
Cleveland’s series-tying win, which peaked with 10.3 million viewers from 10:30-11 PM ET, was the most-watched Game 6 of the East Finals since 2013 (Heat-Pacers: 8.24M). It tied the 2013 game as the highest rated since 2012 (Heat-Celtics: 6.8).
Even so, the numbers were not quite as high as one would expect given the circumstances. Ratings and viewership were the lowest for a conference final game in which LeBron James faced elimination (six telecasts). Of the 12 conference final game sixes over the past decade, it ranks just ninth in viewership.
Game 6 earned the fifth-largest audience of the playoffs, trailing Game 2 of the series (8.2M) and three games of the Rockets-Warriors Western Conference Finals. Cleveland has played in 11 of the 17 most-watched games this postseason, more than any other team. Eastern Conference series account for 12 of the top 17.
Entering Sunday’s Game 7, the East Finals is averaging 7.6 million viewers on ESPN — up 21% from Cavs-Celtics on TNT last year (6.3M) and up 36% from Cavs-Raptors on ESPN in 2016 (5.6M). It ranks as the most-watched East Final through six games since 2013 (Heat-Pacers: 7.9M).
Viewership is up 16% from last year’s conference final on ESPN, Golden State’s four-game sweep of San Antonio.
[Numbers from ESPN PR]
