The first Western Conference Finals in four years to not feature the Los Angeles Lakers opened to lower ratings on Tuesday, but was still a strong TV draw.
The Mavericks’ Game 1 win over the Thunder earned a 4.3 U.S. rating and 6.982 million viewers on ESPN Tuesday night, down 7% in ratings and 2% in viewership from last year (BOS/ORL G2: 4.6, 7.156M), and down 14% in both measures compared to 2009 (DEN/LAL G1: 5.0, 8.085M).
Compared to Game 1 of last year’s West Finals on TNT (PHX/LAL G1: 4.4, 7.112M), the game was down just a tick in ratings and 2% in viewership.
Not only did Thunder/Mavericks come close to last year’s numbers, but the series opener drew the highest rating for a non-Lakers Western Conference Finals game since 2005, when Suns/Spurs Game 4 drew a 4.7 on ABC in primetime.
Overall, Tuesday’s game drew a higher rating than 21 of the last 22 Western Conference Finals games that did not feature the Lakers. That includes every single game of the 2006 Mavericks/Suns and the 2003 Spurs/Mavericks series.
Game 1 drew a 25.1 rating in Oklahoma City, according to The Oklahoman, the highest rating ever for a Thunder game in the market. The last four Thunder games — Games 5, 6 and 7 against the Grizzlies and Tuesday’s Game 1 — rank as the four highest-rated ever in Oklahoma City. Entering this season, the highest Thunder rating was a 21.4 for Game 6 of last year’s Lakers/Thunder series.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the game drew an 18.8 rating in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market. For some perspective, Game 1 of the Rangers/Yankees ALCS drew a 21.9 on TBS last October.
San Antonio (9.8) was the third-highest rated market for the game, followed by Memphis (9.2) and Tulsa, OK (8.9).
Ratings For Game 1 of Western Conference Finals Dating Back to 2002-03 Season
(Numbers from TV By the Numbers, Dallas Morning News, The Oklahoman)
