The first meeting between LeBron James and Zion Williamson was a good draw for TNT.
Tuesday’s Pelicans-Lakers NBA regular season game averaged a 1.5 rating and 2.24 million viewers on TNT, marking the network’s fifth-largest audience of the season (45 telecasts).
Including ESPN/ABC, the Lakers’ win ranks 19th. The team has now played in 14 of the 21 most-watched games this season. Of the remaining seven, three were on Christmas, two were during Opening Week, and two involved Williamson.
Viewership jumped 104% from the comparable date last year, which was one week later in the season (Thunder-Nuggets: 1.10M). There was no window during the comparable week of last season, which corresponded with the NBA All-Star break.
Earlier in the night, a Bucks-Raptors Eastern Conference Finals rematch had just a 0.8 and 1.15 million.
On TNT Thursday night, Lakers-Warriors averaged just 1.06 million viewers — down 53% from the comparable week last season (Rockets-Lakers: 2.24M) and down 34% from 2018 (Clippers-Warriors: 1.60M). James sat out the game, joining Golden State’s long-injured Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson on the sidelines.
Earlier in the night, Blazers-Pacers averaged 883,000 (-54%).
ESPN did not fare much better on Wednesday, averaging a 0.65 rating and 945,000 viewers for Celtics-Jazz and a 0.6 and 940,000 for Grizzlies-Rockets.
Away from the court, tributes to the late Kobe Bryant continue to resonate with viewers. Monday’s memorial service honoring the Laker great and his daughter Gianna averaged 1.09 million viewers each on ESPN and CNN, 746,000 on MSNBC, 371,000 on BET, 236,000 on NBA TV and 182,000 on E!, adding up to a combined audience of 3.72 million across those networks.
[Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 2.27, 2.28, ShowBuzz Daily 2.25, 2.28]
