From Sports Media Watch, a one-stop page for sports ratings news.
Lakers-Mavericks averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.6 million viewers in last week’s season premiere of ABC’s “NBA Saturday Primetime,” down from a 1.6 and 3.05 million for Warriors-Lakers last year.
Earlier in the night, Knicks-Sixers drew a 1.2 and 2.06 million, up from a 0.9 and 1.5 million for Nuggets-Timberwolves last year. ABC was slated to carry a tripleheader, but the middle game (Warriors-Timberwolves) was postponed.
In other recent NBA action, ESPN on Wednesday averaged 1.88 million for Lakers-Cavaliers and 1.54 million for Spurs-Rockets.
Numbers for the latest NBA on NBC “Coast 2 Coast Tuesday” window were not immediately available, but the prior week’s January 20 slate — Spurs-Rockets in most markets and Lakers-Nuggets on the West Coast — drew a Nielsen-estimated 1.2 and 2.09 million. (Figures including Adobe Analytics, which measures NBC’s streaming viewership, were not immediately available.)
Spurs-Thunder was the most-watched game of the NBA’s five-game Christmas Day schedule with 6.71 million viewers across ABC and ESPN, making it the most-watched game in its midday Christmas window since Cavaliers-Warriors in 2017.
Knicks-Cavaliers led in with 6.37 million, marking the most-watched Noon ET game on Christmas. The previous high was 6.01 million for Spurs-Pistons on ABC in 2005.
Keep in mind that Nielsen did not track out-of-home viewing in its estimates until 2020 and did not do so in 100 percent of markets until earlier this year. In addition, Nielsen shifted to a “Big Data + Panel” methodology in September that adds data from smart TVs and set-top boxes to its traditional panel.
The full five-game Christmas average, plus figures for the remaining three games, will be posted when available.
Sunday’s Pacers-Thunder NBA Finals Game 7 averaged a 7.6 rating and 16.61 million viewers across ABC and ESPN+, marking the highest rated and most-watched NBA game since Game 6 of the 2019 Finals (Raptors-Warriors: 10.7, 18.59M).
Game 6 last Thursday night averaged a 4.8 and 9.28 million — surpassing only Lakers-Heat in the 2020 “bubble” as the least-watched Game 6 of the Nielsen people-meter era (1988-present).
For more on the numbers and the full series, see this article.
Monday’s Pacers-Thunder NBA Finals Game 5 averaged a series-high 4.9 rating and 9.54 million viewers on ABC, down 22% in both measures from last year’s Mavericks-Celtics clincher (6.3, 12.22M).
Oklahoma City’s win was the lowest rated Finals Game 5 since Bucks-Suns on a Saturday night in July 2021 (4.8) and the least-watched Game 5 since Heat-Lakers on a Friday night in October 2020 (9.19M).
For more on the numbers, see this article.
Wednesday’s Thunder-Pacers NBA Finals Game 3 averaged a series-high 9.19 million viewers on ABC, down 20% from Celtics-Mavericks last year (11.43M) and the least-watched Game 3 of the Finals since the 2020 “bubble,” when Lakers-Heat averaged a record-low 6.08 million on an NFL Sunday in October.
For more, see this article.
Sunday’s Game 2 of the NBA Finals averaged a 25.3 rating in Oklahoma City, the highest NBA rating in the market since the Thunder’s Game 7 loss to the Warriors in the 2016 Western Conference Finals on TNT (30.0).
In Indianapolis, Game 2 averaged a 19.1 — the market’s highest for a Pacers game since Game 7 against the Cavaliers in the first round of the 2018 playoffs, which also aired on ABC (21.6).
Sunday’s Pacers-Thunder NBA Finals Game 2 averaged 8.76 million viewers on ABC, down 29% from Mavericks-Celtics last year (12.31M) and the least-watched Game 2 of the Finals since Heat-Lakers in the 2020 “bubble” on the night the president was hospitalized due to COVID (6.78M). Outside of that anomalous circumstance, it was the least-watched Game 2 since Cavaliers-Spurs opposite the series finale of “The Sopranos” in 2007 (8.55M).
Thursday’s Pacers-Thunder NBA Finals Game 1 averaged a 4.7 rating and 8.91 million viewers on ABC, marking the lowest rated and least-watched Game 1 of the Finals of the Nielsen people meter era (1988-present) outside of the two COVID-affected series, Bucks-Suns in July 2021 (4.5, 8.70M) and Heat-Lakers in the “bubble” on the final day of September 2020 (4.1, 7.69M).
For more on the Game 1 numbers, see this article.
Sunday’s Nuggets-Thunder second round NBA playoff Game 7 averaged 6.34 million viewers on ABC, down only 2% from Pacers-Knicks last year (6.45M), despite the smaller-market matchup and 32-point blowout. (Nielsen’s recent expansion of out-of-home viewing likely helped narrow the gap.)
On Friday night, the Knicks’ 38-point Game 6 rout of the Celtics averaged 5.73 million — up 14% from Knicks-Pacers a year ago (5.02M).
Saturday’s Timberwolves-Warriors second round NBA playoff Game 3 averaged 6.57 million viewers on ABC, up 17% from Celtics-Cavaliers last year (5.60M) and the fourth-largest audience of the playoffs.
Earlier in the day, the Celtics’ Game 3 blowout of the Knicks averaged 5.34 million, up 38% from Thunder-Mavericks a year ago (3.87M).
On Sunday, Thunder-Nuggets Game 4 averaged 6.01 million on ABC — up 19% from last year’s Knicks-Pacers game (5.03M).
Game 3 of that series drew 4.24 million on ESPN Friday night, down 19% from Nuggets-Timberwolves last year (5.21M). Cavaliers-Pacers led in with 3.91 million, donw 13% from the year-ago Knicks-Pacers (4.49M).
Sunday’s Lakers-Timberwolves first round NBA playoff Game 4 averaged 7.35 million viewers on ESPN, up 32% from Clippers-Mavericks last year (5.56M) and behind only Warriors-Kings two years ago (7.52M) as the company’s most-watched opening round Game 4. (Keep in mind out-of-home viewing was not tracked in Nielsen estimates until 2020.)
Earlier in the day, ABC averaged 3.9 million for Knicks-Pistons Game 4 — down 16% from Knicks-Sixers a year ago (4.65M). The broadcast network also drew 5.08 million for Rockets-Warriors on Saturday night, down 10% from Nuggets-Lakers last year (5.67M).
On ESPN, Friday’s Lakers-Timberwolves Game 3 averaged 3.50 million (+30%), preceded by Celtics-Magic at 2.11 million (-37%). Pacers-Bucks averaged a combined 389,000 across ESPNU and NBA TV.
The ESPN networks are averaging 4.45 million viewers for NBA playoff coverage thus far, up 13% from last year and the network’s highest postseason average at this point since acquiring rights — with the second weekend average of 5.46 million up 4%.
The NBA had its most-watched opening weekend of the playoffs in 25 years, as ESPN/ABC and TNT Sports averaged 4.4 million viewers for eight games — up 17 percent from last year and the highest since NBC and TNT averaged 4.9 million in 2000.
In addition to ABC’s three games — which as previously noted averaged 6.69 million (Magic-Celtics), 5.84 million (Timberwolves-Lakers) and 4.45 million (Grizzlies-Thunder) — TNT averaged 4.24 million for Warriors-Rockets and 4.02 million for Heat-Cavaliers, and ESPN averaged 4.12 million for Pistons-Knicks, 3.64 million for Clippers-Nuggets and 2.51 million for Bucks-Pacers.
For full details on the weekend numbers, see this article.
Fueled by Easter Sunday out-of-home viewing, Sunday’s Magic-Celtics first round NBA playoff Game 1 averaged 6.69 million viewers on ABC — trailing only Nets-Celtics on Easter 2022 (6.90M) as the most-watched opening weekend NBA playoff game since the current media rights deal began in 2002. (Pending results for Sunday night’s games on TNT.)
Viewership increased 44 percent from Mavericks-Clippers in the same window last year (4.66M).
Earlier in the day, Oklahoma City’s 51-point rout of the Grizzlies averaged 4.45 million — up 18 percent from Heat-Celtics last year (3.78M).
ABC also averaged 5.84 million for Timberwolves-Lakers Game 1 on Saturday night, up 3% from Lakers-Nuggets in the same year ago window (5.65M).
ABC averaged 2.73 million viewers for Knicks-Warriors, 2.67 million for Suns-Lakers and 1.77 million for Magic-Cavaliers on its final weekend of NBA coverage this regular season. Saturday’s Knicks-Warriors game declined 8% from Warriors-Lakers last year (2.97M), but the Sunday doubleheader of Suns-Lakers and Magic-Cavaliers increased 17 and 24 percent respectively from a year ago (Nuggets-Mavericks: 2.15M; Suns-Bucks: 1.51M).
In other weekend action, ESPN averaged 1.39 million for Thunder-Bucks Sunday night; there was no comparable window last year. (ESPN, 3/18)
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