It took a major hit in the ratings, but Lakers-Rockets still put up the strongest competition against the NFL Kickoff Game in a decade.
Thursday’s Lakers-Rockets second round NBA playoff Game 4 averaged 2.50 million viewers on TNT, marking the most-watched sporting event opposite the NFL Kickoff Game in a decade — since an Auburn-Mississippi State college football game on ESPN in 2010 (2.81M).
As one would expect, the Lakers’ win was trounced by the competing NFL game, which averaged 19.3 million viewers (not including out-of-home viewership). It ranked a distant second on a crowded sports night that also included the US Open women’s semifinals on ESPN (1.55M) and the NHL Western Conference Final on NBCSN (790K).
Viewership sank an unsurprising 44% from the comparable Thursday window of last year’s postseason, which did not face any notable competition (Raptors-Sixers Game 6: 4.48M). The closest comparison from last year’s playoffs would be Nuggets-Spurs Game 6 in the first round, which aired opposite night one of the NFL Draft and averaged 1.80 million on TNT.
Game 4 was the least-watched Laker game of the playoffs, not just owing to the competition but also to a special 7 PM ET start time — or 4 PM in Los Angeles. Every other Laker game this postseason averaged at least 2.9 million and the three previous games of the Rockets series each topped four million.
That includes Tuesday’s Game 3, which averaged 4.65 million — the most-watched game of the playoffs on cable and a 24% increase over last year’s comparable window (Sixers-Raptors Game 5: 3.75M).
By virtue of facing the Lakers and playing in a first round Game 7, the Rockets have been in the four most-watched games of the playoffs.
In other action, Wednesday’s double-overtime Raptors-Celtics Game 6 averaged 3.43 million viewers on ESPN, the most-watched game of the playoffs that did not start in primetime or air on broadcast television (37 total games). Game 5 averaged 2.71 million on TNT Labor Day, down 27% from Bucks-Celtics Game 4 in a similar window last year (3.72M).
Clippers-Nuggets Game 4 averaged 2.98 million in Wednesday’s nightcap, down 39% from Celtics-Bucks Game 5 in a similar window last year (4.87M). Game 3 averaged 3.45 million on Monday, down 50% from Warriors-Rockets Game 4 in a similar slot last year (6.97M).
Finally, Tuesday’s clinching Heat-Bucks Game 5 averaged 2.96 million on TNT.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 9.11, 9.10 a, b, 9.9]
