Sports Ratings Tracker

Last Thursday’s Cavaliers-Knicks NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 2 averaged 7.1 million viewers on ESPN, officially the highest for a Game 2 of the East Finals since the LeBron James-era Cavaliers faced the Celtics in 2018 (8.42M).

The Knicks’ win increased 7% from Pacers-Knicks on TNT Sports last year (6.65M), within the margin that can be explained by Nielsen methodological changes of the past year.

Tuesday’s Lakers-Thunder second round NBA playoff Game 1 averaged 6.8 million viewers on NBC across Nielsen (5.3M) and Adobe Analytics, up a third from a Nielsen-only 5.1 million for Warriors-Timberwolves on TNT an truTV last year.

The Thunder’s win, which peaked with 8.2 million, delivered the third-largest audience of the postseason thus far.

On Monday night, the Knicks’ Game 1 rout of the Sixers averaged 6.3 million (4.93M per Nielsen, plus Adobe Analytics) — up 28% from Knicks-Celtics on TNT Sports last year (4.88M).

Both nights, NBCU carried a second game that aired on Peacock and was not Nielsen-rated (Timberwolves-Spurs on Monday, Cavaliers-Pistons on Tuesday).

On Wednesday night, ESPN averaged 5.2 million for Sixers-Knicks Game 2 and 4.7 million for Timberwolves-Spurs Game 2 — up 13 and 24 percent respectively from last year’s equivalent TNT Sports doubleheader of Knicks-Celtics (4.6M) and Nuggets-Thunder (3.8M).

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.

Last week’s NBA “Coast to Coast Tuesday” slate — Magic-Sixers and Clippers-Lakers — averaged 2.7 million viewers on NBC and Peacock (across both Nielsen and Adobe Analytics), marking the largest group stage audience in the three years of the NBA Cup.

That comes with the caveat that no previous group stage telecast aired on broadcast television, much less in a regionalized format combining early and late windows. (Plus the standard caveats regarding Nielsen methodological changes.)

The following night, ESPN averaged 2.10 million for a Thanksgiving Eve tripleheader, up 54% from a doubleheader last year. Timberwolves-Thunder led the way with 2.43 million (+83%), followed by Rockets-Warriors at 2.03 million (+45%), with Pistons-Celtics leading off at 1.81 million.

Thursday’s ESPN NBA doubleheader averaged 2.07 million viewers, up 53% from the opening Thursday of last season on TNT. That is a bigger year-over-year increase than ESPN had for its season-opening doubleheader the previous night (2.33M, +44%).

While Nielsen this year has expanded its out-of-home viewing sample and shifted to a new “Big Data + Panel” methodology, those changes would not fully explain an increase of that size.

The overtime Nuggets-Warriors game led the way with 2.23 million viewers, up 79% from Thunder-Nuggets on TNT last year (1.25M). The double-overtime Thunder-Pacers NBA Finals rematch led in with 1.98 million, up 37% from last year’s Spurs-Mavericks game (1.45M). (Thunder-Pacers had the bigger peak audience, 2.66 million.)

Neither game hit a multi-year high, as Suns-Lakers drew 2.30 million and Sixers-Bucks 2.04 million on TNT the comparable night in 2023.

The NBA Summer League, which concluded last week, averaged 255,000 viewers on the ESPN networks — up 27% from last year. The Kings-Hornets title game averaged 420,000 in a post-Sunday Night Baseball window last weekend, up 3% from last year’s Monday night title game.

Thursday’s Lakers-Mavericks NBA Summer League game, which marked the NBA debut of #1 pick Cooper Flagg, averaged 955,000 viewers on ESPN — marking the fourth-largest Summer League audience ever on the ESPN networks. The Mavericks’ win, which peaked with 1.12 million viewers, trails only Hornets-Spurs in 2023 (Victor Wembanyama’s debut: 1.39M), Pelicans-Knicks in 2019 (Zion Williamson’s debut: 1.61M) and Celtics-Lakers in 2017 (1.1M).

Wednesday’s Timberwolves-Thunder NBA Western Conference Finals Game 5 averaged 4.62 million viewers on ESPN, topping only Nuggets-Lakers Game 2 on an NFL Sunday in September 2020 (3.28M) as the least-watched WCF game since 2013 (Grizzlies-Spurs Game 2: 4.62M).

For more, see the following article.

Monday’s Thunder-Timberwolves NBA Western Conference Finals Game 4 averaged a 3.4 rating and 6.53 million viewers across ESPN (3.2, 6.16M) and an ESPN2 “InsightCast” (0.22, 378K), down 7 and 5 percent respectively from Timberwolves-Mavericks on TNT and truTV lat year (3.7, 6.87M), and easily the highest rated and most-watched game of the series to that point.

Game 3 on Saturday — a 42-point Minnesota rout — averaged a 2.6 and 5.26 million on ABC, down 26 and 27 percent respectively from Timberwolves-Mavericks on TNT and truTV last year (3.5, 7.25M).

For more on the WCF, see this article.

Thursday’s Timberwolves-Thunder NBA Western Conference Finals Game 2 averaged a 2.7 rating and 5.16 million viewers on ESPN, down 14% in ratings and 18% in viewership from Mavericks-Timberwolves on TNT and truTV last year (3.2, 6.27M) and the least-watched conference final game in four years. For more on the numbers, see this article.

Tuesday’s Timberwolves-Thunder NBA Western Conference Finals Game 1 averaged a 2.9 rating and 5.36 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, down 22% in ratings and 24% in viewership from Mavericks-Timberwolves on TNT and truTV last year (3.7, 7.02M) and down 17% in both measures from last year’s conference final opener on the ESPN networks, Pacers-Celtics (3.5, 6.44M).

Oklahoma City’s easy win was the least-watched conference final opener since the COVID-delayed 2021 playoffs, when Clippers-Suns opened with 4.72 million.

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).

Thursday’s Thunder-Nuggets second round NBA playoff Game 6 averaged 4.89 million viewers on ESPN, down 5% from the Timberwolves’ rout of the Nuggets last year (5.15M), but the most-watched of the series’ five games on cable. (Game 4 on ABC had 6.01 million.)

Monday’s Celtics-Knicks second round NBA playoff Game 4 averaged 6.13 million viewers on ESPN, up 50% from Celtics-Cavaliers on TNT last year (4.09M), and the second-largest cable audience of the playoffs.

Timberwolves-Warriors Game 4 led out with 4.67 million, up 8% from Thunder-Mavericks a year ago (4.34M).

The NBA Draft Lottery led-in with 1.88 million, down from last year, when it aired in a Sunday afternoon window on ABC (2.01M). The last time it aired on ESPN two years ago, it averaged 3.24 million — but that was leading into a conference final game involving the Lakers.

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%.

Last week’s NBA Play-In Tournament concluded with 2.51 million viewers from Mavericks-Grizzlies on ESPN and 2.13 million for Heat-Hawks on TNT and truTV, down two and five percent respectively from last year (Kings-Pelicans: 2.57M; Bulls-Heat: 2.25M).

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.

Wednesday’s Mavericks-Kings NBA Play-In Tournament Game averaged 2.14 million viewers on ESPN, preceded by Heat-Bulls at 2.07 million — down 30 and 39 percent respectively from last year’s pairing of Hawks-Bulls (3.07M) and Heat-Sixers (3.40M).

Sunday’s Clippers-Warriors NBA regular season finale averaged 1.55 million viewers on ESPN, up 6% from Lakers-Pelicans last year (1.46M). The game faced much tougher Masters competition than a year ago.

In the early window, a Pistons-Bucks game with no stakes averaged 797,000 — down a third from Bulls-Knicks last year (1.18M).

Wednesday’s Lakers-Mavericks NBA regular season game, which marked Lakers G Luka Doncic’s first game in Dallas since being traded at midseason, averaged 2.26 million viewers on ESPN — the network’s top audience of the season outside of Christmas and a sharp increase over Mavericks-Heat in the same window last year (1.23M).

Somewhat surprisingly, Doncic’s return was not even the most-watched Laker game in the past week, trailing their matchup with Golden State on TNT last Thursday (2.5M). Unlike that game, which was fully exclusive to TNT, ESPN’s coverage Wednesday co-existed with local RSNs in both markets.

The Nuggets-Kings nightcap averaged 1.21 million, down from Timberwolves-Nuggets a year ago (1.57M).

For more on the numbers, see this article.

Wednesday’s Pistons-Thunder NBA regular season game averaged 1.07 million viewers on ESPN, preceded by Knicks-Cavaliers at 1.03 million — down 4 and 12 percent respectively from last year’s equivalent games, Cavaliers-Suns (1.12M) and Thunder-Celtics (1.17M).

Wednesday’s Lakers-Pacers NBA regular season game, won at the buzzer on a tip-in by LeBron James, averaged 1.45 million viewers on ESPN — up 18% from Clippers-Sixers last year (1.23M). The Celtics-Suns nightcap drew 1.25 million, down 13% from Suns-Nuggets a year ago (1.44M).

Wednesday’s Nuggets-Lakers NBA regular season game averaged 1.43 million viewers on ESPN, up 16% from Grizzlies-Warriors last year (1.24M). Pistons-Heat led-in with just 910,000, down 35% from a year ago (Bucks-Celtics: 1.39M). (ESPN, 3/21)