LeBron James’ return to the playoffs gave the NBA its strongest ratings performance since the season resumed last month.
Tuesday’s Blazers-Lakers first round NBA playoff opener averaged 3.45 million viewers on TNT, up 13% from the comparable window on day two of last year’s playoffs, Jazz-Rockets on a Sunday night (3.04M). Versus the first Tuesday of last year’s playoffs, viewership increased 19% over Thunder-Blazers Game 2 (2.59M).
Portland’s win delivered the largest NBA audience since the season restarted July 30, comfortably surpassing Lakers-Clippers on the first night back (3.35M). It outdrew every first round Game 1 on cable last season.
The last time LeBron James made the playoffs two years ago, his Cavaliers’ first round opener against Indiana averaged 5.94 million. That game aired exclusively on broadcast network ABC in a Sunday afternoon window.
Both primetime NBA playoff games have increased double-digits over the comparable windows last season, with Monday’s Mavericks-Clippers game up 25%. Both games were the day’s highest rated television programs in adults 18-34 and 18-49, with Blazers-Lakers averaging a 1.4 in the former and 1.6 in the latter. While there is typically little competition in the month of August, a political convention is taking place this week (albeit split across multiple networks).
The primetime gains have not been enough to offset the unusually high number of afternoon and early evening starts. Earlier Tuesday, Thunder-Rockets averaged 1.98 million — down 26% from Pistons-Bucks on day two of last year’s playoffs (2.66M). Versus the comparable Tuesday window last year, Magic-Raptors Game 2, viewership declined 31%.
The game began at 6:30 PM ET, earlier than any weekday playoff game last year. Last year’s Pistons-Bucks game was a 7 PM Sunday start; Magic-Raptors Game 2 started in the customary 8 PM ET window.
The afternoon windows saw sharper declines. Heat-Pacers Game 1 averaged 1.41 million, down 64% from Thunder-Blazers on ABC last year (3.90M). Magic-Bucks averaged 1.01 million, down 44% from Pacers-Celtics a year ago (1.81M). It bears repeating that last year’s games aired on a Sunday afternoon. As noted in a previous post, this year’s 1:30 and 4:00 PM ET windows are the earliest weekday playoff timeslots since 1991.
The first two days of the playoffs have averaged approximately 1.87 million viewers, down 34% from last year (2.84M), though the schedule provides an obvious caveat.
[Nielsen estimates via ShowBuzz Daily 8.19]
