According to Bally Sports Ohio, which holds the Cavs’ television rights, ratings for the team’s games are up 78 percent at the NBA All-Star break compared to last season’s ratings. Adjusted for the same number of games — 58 — the team’s ratings are up 65 percent this season.
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Last weekend’s Lakers-Warriors NBA Saturday Primetime game on ABC averaged a 1.9 rating and 3.61 million viewers, marking the largest NBA audience of the season outside of Christmas. Including Christmas games, it ranks fourth. Golden State’s narrow win — which increased 29% in ratings from Nets-Warriors on the same weekend last year (1.5, 2.56M) — ranks as the most-watched Saturday Primetime game since Warriors-Sixers in March 2019 (3.63M).
The NBA has seen a spike in viewership in Brazil, Australia and the Philippines, demonstrating that the league’s efforts to grow the game outside of North America is bearing fruit. In Brazil, National Basketball Association games this season are drawing a 16% larger average audience compared to last season, rising to fourth among countries outside the United States in largest total audience, the league said.
Australia has seen a 35% larger average audience compared to last season, including a 27% jump in viewership for the NBA’s Christmas day suite of games. The league’s opening night roster featured eight Australian players including veteran guard Patty Mills and rising star Josh Giddey, who are driving interest in their home country. The NBA has also enjoyed growth in viewership and on social media in the Philippines. The NBA’s Facebook page has more than 8.5 million followers from the Philippines, the No. 1 country outside the United States.
Nets-Warriors averaged a 1.8 rating and 3.17 million viewers on ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime last weekend, marking the most-watched edition of the series since Warriors-Sixers in 2019 (3.63M). Golden State’s win, which peaked with 4.31 million viewers, increased 17% in ratings and 16% in viewership from Lakers-Celtics last year (1.6, 2.74M) and 69% and 91% respectively from Sixers-Celtics two years ago (1.1, 1.66M).
With the NFL taking over primetime on Martin Luther King Day, TNT failed to crack the one million viewer mark for either of its matinee games — averaging 707,000 for Bulls-Grizzlies and 908,000 for Bucks-Hawks. Viewership declined 3% and 57% respectively from the equivalent windows last MLK Day (Suns-Grizzlies: 727K; Bucks-Nets: 2.11M).
Eight of the first ten NBA games on ESPN and TNT in 2022 have increased from last year, including seven by double-digits — Warriors-Mavericks on ESPN January 5 (1.69M, +78%), Nets-Bulls on ESPN Wednesday (1.56M, +58%), the Bucks’ rout of the Warriors on TNT Thursday (1.41M, +34%), the Bucks’ rout of the Nets on ESPN January 7 (1.50M, +28%), Clippers-Suns on TNT January 6 (1.16M, +17%), the Knicks’ buzzer-beating win over the Celtics earlier that night (1.28M, +13%) and Hawks-Lakers on ESPN January 7 — the most-watched game of the calendar year so far (1.77M, +11%).
Put another way, the NBA made the top 25 in 2017 and four years later, is totally out of the top 100. It gets even worse when we rewind back another year. In 2016, the NBA had eight games in the top 25. So, within five years, the NBA went from eight games in the top 25 most viewed to ZERO in the top 100. Additionally, in 2016, the NBA claimed 12 of the top 50 spots. So, you’re going from over one-fifth of the top 50 to zip, zero, nada of the top 100. That’s a huge drop, and it defies any, “all sports have suffered of late,” hand waving. Yet, nobody associated with the NBA seems all that concerned about the sport’s financial state, at least publicly. That’s why a story like this causes hardly a ripple:
The Nets, without Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving or Joe Harris, played on national television Christmas Day and came away with a big win over the Lakers at the newly minted Crypto.com Center ... and a big audience nationally. A total of 5.75 million basketball fans watched on ABC, the most of any of the five holiday games Saturday, per Nielsen, the ratings service. The numbers were down from the last two years of Christmas viewing, what with COVID ravaging NBA rosters and the cross-scheduling of games vs. the NFL.
Tuesday’s Pacers-Heat NBA regular season game — which was originally scheduled for TNT, dropped in favor of Wizards-Nets, and then moved back to TNT after Wizards-Nets was postponed — averaged just 393,000 viewers opposite rescheduled NFL games Tuesday night, marking the least-watched NBA game on ESPN, ABC or TNT since ESPN drew just 377,000 for Bulls-Grizzlies opposite a rescheduled NFL playoff game in 2017.
Jabari Young: Behind the scenes, media pundits I spoke with a bit surprised ESPN didn’t flip #Warriors #Suns to 8PM Reason: with #NBA Covid outbreaks, that game appears to be the better matchup… so don’t put it up against #NFL #Packers #Browns … but the hope is #Nets get guys back by Sat.
NBA regular season games were averaging 1.59 million viewers across ESPN, ABC and TNT through last Wednesday, up 11% from the comparable period in 2019 (1.44M*). Last Tuesday’s Warriors-Knicks game, in which Golden State G Stephen Curry set the all-time three-point shooting record, averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.35 million viewers on TNT — the fourth-largest audience of the season. Golden State has now played in each of the five most-watched games, six of the top seven and eight of the top ten.
In the NBA’s earliest game on broadcast television in 20 years, Stephen Curry and the Warriors helped ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime to a multiyear high. Warriors-Sixers averaged a 1.7 rating and 3.07 million viewers in the season premiere of ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime, marking the largest audience for the network’s Saturday night series since the same matchup in March 2019 (3.63M). Philadelphia’s win, which peaked with 3.55 million from 10:45-11 PM ET, ranks as ABC’s most-watched regular season game outside of Christmas since Lakers-Clippers on March 8, 2020 — three days before the NBA postponed its season (3.62M).
JD Shaw: The Warriors-Knicks game on TNT last night — where Stephen Curry broke the NBA’s all-time three-point record — averaged 2.35 million viewers. To compare, TNT, ABC and ESPN are averaging 1.59 million viewers this season.
NBA viewership is trending above two years ago thanks in large part to the resurgent Golden State Warriors. NBA regular season games are averaging 1.55 million viewers so far this season, up 8% from the comparable point two years ago. At the same point last year, the season had not yet begun. Tuesday’s Warriors-Suns game, a matchup of the league’s two best records, averaged 2.38 million viewers on TNT — the second-largest audience of the season behind Warriors-Lakers on Opening Night (3.39M). Golden State has now played in the top three, four of the top five, five of the top seven and six of the top nine games this season.
Mark Medina: You usually don't see the Lakers getting swapped out of national TV games. But here it is. On Friday, ESPN will now broadcast the Warriors-Suns game instead of the Lakers-Clippers game
JD Shaw: From the NBA: Games televised on TNT and ESPN have averaged 1.55 million viewers this season. This is up 29% from 2020-21 and 8% from 2019-20. pic.twitter.com/ju849GiFTH
TNT averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.74 million viewers for last Tuesday’s Lakers-Knicks NBA regular season game, marking the eighth-largest audience of the season thus far. The sub-.500 Lakers have played in four of the nine most-watched games through Tuesday, matching the Warriors as the most of any team.
Ben Cafardo: Friday’s #Lakers v #Celtics ESPN telecast peaked w/ 2,149,000 viewers and averaged 1,735,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. It is ESPN’s most-watched NBA game since it’s season-opener (Knicks-Celtics). Handily won key demos across cable, including Male & People 18-34, 18-49.
NBA games are averaging 1.5 million viewers across ESPN and TNT to date, up 7% from the same point two seasons ago (1.41 million), when the league started on time. Games are down 3% from the start to last season, which began just before Christmas (1.54 million boosted by some Christmas Day games).
The return of the Warriors to prominence (12-2 and leading the Western Conference) is one factor driving audience numbers higher. The team has played in three of the top five games to date across ESPN and TNT. Two seasons ago, when the team was ravaged by injuries, ESPN alone had to flex out at least eight Warriors games from its schedule over the course of the season.
After two years in the cellar, the Warriors’ return to contention is lifting NBA ratings. Tuesday’s Warriors-Nets NBA regular season game averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.29 million viewers on TNT, trailing only Warriors-Lakers on Opening Night (1.9, 3.39M) as the highest rated and most-watched game of the season.
Richard Deitsch: Turner says its NBA game coverage on TNT is averaging 1.6 million viewers this season up 31% vs. last year’s regular season average and up 16% through same number of games in 2019-20. Inside the NBA is up 42 percent in viewership over last year and up 7% vs. 2019-20.
Nets Daily: From @Brian Lewis: Nets ratings on YES were up 3% entering Friday night in an apples-to-apples comparison to the analogous date in pre-pandemic 2019-20 season. YES broadcasts averaging 62,000 viewers this season, up from 60,000 two years ago ... and 27,000 five years ago.
ESPN said Thursday that it is averaging 1.44 million viewers for NBA games this season, up 20% from last year’s full season average (1.20M), with the caveat that three weeks and a full season are not an apples-to-apples comparison. A direct comparison to last year’s first three weeks (December into January) or the first three weeks two years ago (October into November) was not immediately available.
Wednesday’s Hornets-Warriors NBA regular season game averaged 1.76 million viewers on ESPN, up 37% from Bucks-Clippers in 2019 (1.29M) and the fifth-largest audience of the young season. Golden State has played in three of the top six games thus far, more than any other team. Ratings were not immediately available. Earlier in the night, Hawks-Nets drew a 0.8 rating and 1.3 million — down 20% and 13% respectively from Warriors-Rockets in ’19 (1.0, 1.49M).
Tuesday’s Sixers-Knicks NBA regular season game averaged 1.43 million viewers on TNT, up 71% from Bucks-Heat on the comparable night of last season, which began in December (837K). Compared to the previous traditional season two years ago, viewership increased 117% from Heat-Hawks on a Thursday night opposite the NFL (658K). TNT this season is shifting its NBA doubleheaders from Thursdays to Tuesdays to avoid the NFL.
In other action, last Friday’s Suns-Lakers game drew a 1.1 rating and 2.09 million viewers on ESPN — down a tick in ratings but up 17% in viewership from Jazz-Lakers in ’19 (1.2, 1.78M). Nets-Sixers drew a 0.9 (+29%) and 1.68 million (+52%) earlier in the night. ESPN averaged 1.82 million viewers for its Opening Week NBA doubleheaders, up 18% from 2019 and up 3% from 2018. Last year’s Opening Week slate included Christmas Day games.
ESPN had its most-watched opening week of the NBA regular season since 2017, averaging 1,817,000 viewers. The ratings are up 18 percent from 2019, three percent from 2018 and 46 percent from 2020's single-game opener.
ESPN aired its most-watched season-opening NBA doubleheader in four years Wednesday, averaging 1.74 million viewers for Celtics-Knicks and Nuggets-Suns. In particular, Celtics-Knicks averaged 1.96 million — the network’s top opening game since 2013 (Heat-Nets: 2.45M). The double-overtime thriller, which peaked with 2.87 million from 10:30-10:45 PM ET, actually declined 2% from the comparable window last season, Bucks-Celtics on TNT in late December (2.00M). Compared to the last traditional season two years ago, viewership increased 15% from Celtics-Sixers on ESPN opposite the World Series (1.70M).
Flora ESPN Insights: Celtics vs Knicks ranks as ESPN’s #2 most-viewed Wednesday Opener in 18 years! 18 years ago, the #1 Wednesday Opener featured, um, you guessed it, Knicks (surprise!) vs Magic.
Austin Karp: 1.955 million for Knicks-Celtics ESPN NBA opener last night. Strong considering 5.3 million for Braves-Dodgers head-to-head. ESPN's best opener since Heat-Nets 2013 (see below). Up from 1.7 million for Celts-76ers opener in December 2020 and 1.6 million for Pels-Rockets 2019
Tuesday’s Warriors-Lakers NBA Opening Night game averaged 3.39 million viewers on TNT, up 10% from Clippers-Lakers on opening night of last season, which took place in December (3.08M), but down 6% from Lakers-Clippers two years ago — the previous Opening Night in the month of October (3.58M).
Tuesday’s Kings-Celtics NBA Summer League final averaged 435,000 viewers on ESPN, up 62% from the previous title game in 2019, which aired on ESPN2 (Grizzlies-Timberwolves: 269K), but down 5% from 2019 on ESPN (Blazers-Lakers: 456K). It was not the most-watched game of the Summer League, trailing a Pistons-Rockets game pitting the top two picks in the NBA Draft (520K).
On paper, ABC’s 5 p.m. ET Warriors-Suns showcase looks awfully sweet, as it features a meeting between point guards extraordinaire Steph Curry and Chris Paul. Golden State will be in the midst of a bid to return to the postseason after a two-year layoff, during which Klay Thompson was benched with various leg ailments. The Suns, meanwhile, are still smarting from their 4-2 loss to the Bucks in the NBA Finals; all things being equal, this is the sort of pairing that should draw as many as 9 million viewers. Unfortunately for ABC, the Golden State-Phoenix broadcast airs directly opposite Fox’s coverage of a Packers-Browns game in which Aaron Rodgers will suit up against Baker Mayfield. The grizzled-vet-versus-cocky-upstart trope generally makes for good TV, and seeing as how Green Bay has long been one of the NFL’s top draws, Fox is likely to pull a Grinch on ABC.
A showdown between the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers will highlight the NBA's Christmas Day schedule, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. In addition to the star-studded, cross-coast clash, the Atlanta Hawks will travel to take on the New York Knicks. That game will be a rematch of a first-round playoff series that saw Trae Young become a Madison Square Garden villain while the Hawks eliminated the Knicks in five games.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Plenty of discuss on The Jump at 3 PM ET today with unveiling of Christmas Day games, including, sources say: Trae Young and Atlanta Hawks returning to play the New York Knicks at MSG. Plus, battle of the East-West titans: The Brooklyn Nets vs. the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples.
Gaining broadcast network exposure for the first time, the NBA Draft managed a modest bump over last year’s low despite competition from the Summer Olympics. Airing opposite the Summer Olympics, Thursday’s NBA Draft averaged 2.26 million viewers across ESPN and ABC — up 6% from last year, when the event took place in November (2.13M), but down 27% from 2019, when Zion Williamson went #1 overall and the event took place in June (3.09M). Coverage aired on ESPN and ESPNU in those years.
While the average number of comments made per day in 2021 was the highest on record, the peaks (which almost always occur during the postseason) were actually the lowest since 2016. That’s surprising because r/nba has more than quadrupled its subscriber base since then. What I like about this approach is that it’s capturing NBA interest (or lack thereof) from a younger, more technologically-savvy fanbase. I think the criticism most people have with using television ratings to measure fan interest is that younger fans aren’t watching games on TV — they’re streaming it or just following it closely on social media. This analysis shows that even among the fans least likely to be captured by traditional television ratings, interest in the biggest NBA games appears to be down.
The NBA Finals, taking place in July for the first time, averaged 9.9 million viewers, representing the fourth-lowest figure this century, as noted Monday by my Axios counterpart Kendall Baker. The only three Finals to pull in smaller audiences were last season’s Finals from the Walt Disney World bubble (Lakers vs. Heat) that were staged much later than usual in October, 2007 (Spurs vs. Cavaliers) and 2003 (Spurs vs. Nets). The league has long maintained that such audience measures are incomplete, since they roughly account for only 10% of international markets and do not include figures from social media platforms or its League Pass streaming service.
Giannis Antetekounmpo’s 50-point effort, which snapped the Milwaukee Bucks’ 50-year drought, posted a 50 percent increase in viewership over last year. Tuesday’s Suns-Bucks NBA Finals Game 6 averaged a 6.6 rating and 12.52 million viewers on ABC, up 57% in ratings and 50% in viewership from Lakers-Heat in the “bubble” last October, which aired opposite Sunday Night Football (4.2, 8.37M), but down 38% and 33% respectively from Raptors-Warriors in June 2019 (10.7, 18.76M).
According to Nielsen, the NBA and ABC on Wednesday, the six-game series between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns averaged 9.91 million viewers, a 32% increase over last year's series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat, which also went six games. However, the average makes it the fourth-lowest since 1997. The Lakers-Heat series -- which was played in October in the bubble in Orlando, Florida, after the coronavirus pandemic pushed the season back five months -- averaged only 7.45 million.
Excluding football games, Game 6 also averaged the fifth-largest sports audience since the wave of cancellations and postponements that decimated the industry in March of last year. It trails only Game 6 of last year’s World Series (6.8, 12.70M), this year’s Kentucky Derby (7.1, 14.37M), and the final two games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament (Gonzaga-UCLA: 7.6, 14.94M; Baylor-Gonzaga: 9.4, 16.92M).
Alex Kennedy: Game 6 of the NBA Finals had 12.52 million viewers, up 50% from 2020. Viewership peaked at 16.54 million. Viewership of the playoffs was up 35% vs. 2020, with 4.25 million average. This is the highest share of households with TVs on tuning into the NBA playoffs since 2002 (7.1).
After a series (and post-hiatus) high in Game 4, a Saturday night Game 5 of the NBA Finals slipped back under the ten million mark. Saturday’s Bucks-Suns NBA Finals Game 5 averaged a 4.8 rating and 9.62 million viewers on ABC, flat in ratings and up a modest 7% viewership from Heat-Lakers last October, a potential title-clincher and the most-watched game in the “bubble” (4.8, 8.96M), and down a sharp 55% and 48% respectively from Warriors-Raptors in June 2019, another potential clincher in which Kevin Durant returned from injury only to tear his Achilles (10.6, 18.60M).
Alex Kennedy: Viewership of Game 4 of the NBA Finals was up 35% from last year, per Nielsen. The ABC broadcast averaged 10,254,000 viewers, peaking with 12,559,000 viewers from 11:15-11:30 p.m. ET. Through four games, the 2021 NBA Finals is averaging 9,311,000 viewers, up 34% from last year.
According to Standard Media Index data, ABC booked $250.7 million in ad sales during the Raptors-Warriors sextet in 2019, a benchmark that appears to be within reach this time around. The cost of 30 seconds of in-game airtime is up near $600,000 a pop at the high end, and given the inevitable rate increases that accompany the higher ratings of a sixth game, the network is now playing with house money.
If 20 million viewers for the sixth broadcast of Bucks-Suns is likely out of reach—the audience would have to more than double (+122%) in size between Game 3 and Game 6, which is something that has happened exactly never—that figure is well within reach if a seventh game is required. That sort of turnout will not only keep ABC from being buried under a pile of make-goods, but it would also go a long way toward drowning out a lot of the chatter about the NBA’s waning popularity.
Back in the States, where soccer is still not exactly what anyone would call a matter of life and death, the TV audience was anything but insignificant. Not only did the Italy-England match deliver more viewers than each game of NBC Sports’ coverage of the Stanley Cup Final, but it also handily out-delivered nearly every game of the 2020-21 NBA season. Per Nielsen, only the Christmas Day Mavs-Lakers broadcast, two playoff outings and the three NBA Finals games have put up bigger numbers than Sunday’s overseas soccer showdown. For the sake of context, the two conference semifinals telecasts (Bucks-Nets, Hawks-Sixers) were both Game 7s.
Television viewers in the Bucks home market are watching the NBA Finals games against the Phoenix Suns in ever-increasing numbers that Sunday night reached nearly 273,000 households. The peak viewership represented nearly 33% of all households with televisions and about 58% of households watching television Sunday night in southeast Wisconsin.
The average number of southeast Wisconsin households tuning in for Sunday’s game on Milwaukee ABC affiliate WISN-TV (Channel 12) was 221,400. That was the highest average so far of the series compared with an average of 201,300 for the July 8 game and 198,900 for the first game on July 6.
It’s unclear how much AT&T SportsNet will pay the Jazz for the rights to broadcast their games in 2021-22. What is clear, though, is that the rights to broadcast Jazz games are quite valuable. Of the 30 teams in the NBA, the Jazz’s 5.9 average rating on locally broadcast Jazz games this season ranked second, only slightly behind the Golden State Warriors’ 5.96 rating.
In the latest TV ratings, ABC’s coverage of the NBA Finals opener averaged 6.4 million total viewers and a 2.1 rating, down 13 and 18 percent from the preliminary numbers for last year’s Game 1 (which was pandemic-delayed until August) yet still easily topping Tuesday in the demo and expected to report the night’s largest audience once the final numbers trickle in.
A Western Conference Finals few would have expected at the start of the season posted a solid rebound over last year’s “bubble.” The six-game Suns-Clippers NBA Western Conference Finals averaged 5.38 million viewers across ESPN and ABC, up 19% from last fall’s Lakers-Nuggets series in the “bubble” on TNT, but down 29% from Warriors-Blazers on ESPN in 2019. Viewership increased a third from ESPN’s conference final in the “bubble,” Heat-Celtics.
It is no secret that the NBA is becoming an increasingly global league. One way to prove that is the audience tuning in to watch the playoffs. According to research from the NBA obtained by HoopsHype, total viewing consumption among all international markets for the first round of the playoffs in 2021 was up by 13 percent when compared to the first round in 2020.
Streaming numbers also suggest a significant uptick in total international consumption. Global viewership on NBA League Pass is up 22 percent compared to the playoffs in 2020, per the league office, and a 28 percent increased compared to the 2019 postseason.
For example, Italian forward Danillo Gallinari is currently enjoying his first season with the Atlanta Hawks. As a result, the Hawks have been the most-viewed team on SkySpot in Italy, drawing an audience that was 39 percent larger than other teams drew during the first round.
Swiss-born big man Clint Capela, who also plays for the Hawks, might be impacting viewership in his home country as well. Postseason game average unique viewership has increased by 23 percent in Switzerland since last season.
Ben Cafardo: ESPN's #NBAWCF Game 6 drew 5,856,000 viewers, up 64% from ESPN's Conf Finals Game 6 last year (Nielsen). Once again, @espn won the night across all of TV & in all key demos. ESPN & ABC's NBA Conf Finals averaged 5,378,000 viewers, up 32% from Conf Finals on ESPN last year.
Neither the ratings disaster of the “bubble” nor a return to normal, a pair of unexpected, non-traditional NBA conference finals continues to put up respectable numbers. Monday’s Clippers-Suns NBA Western Conference Finals Game 5 averaged 5.74 million viewers on ESPN, up 20% from last year’s clinching Nuggets-Lakers Game 5 in the “bubble” on TNT, which aired on a college football Saturday (4.79M) and the most-watched game of the conference finals thus far. For the postseason, the Clippers’ win ranks third behind a pair of semifinal Game 7s (Bucks-Nets: 6.91M; Hawks-Sixers: 6.16M) and ahead Warriors-Lakers in the Play-in Tournament (5.62M).
Game 5 ranks as the most-watched NBA telecast on ESPN since the clinching Warriors-Blazers Game 4 in the 2019 Western Conference Finals (7.79M), and the network’s top game that did not include the Warriors or LeBron James since a Thunder-Clippers second round game in 2014 (6.40M).
Nets Daily: Huge dropoff in ratings this year for NBA lottery draw. One reason might be the absence of all four teams from the two biggest markets, New York and Los Angeles. That hasn’t been the case in a long long time.
Thursday’s Suns-Clippers NBA Western Conference Finals Game 3 averaged 5.33 million viewers on ESPN, up 10% from Lakers-Nuggets in the “bubble” on TNT last September (4.83M) but down 26% from Warriors-Blazers on ESPN in 2019 (7.25M). The Clippers’ win delivered the largest audience of the conference finals thus far (four telecasts) and ranks fifth for the playoffs (sixth including the Play-in Tournament).
Ben Cafardo: ESPN's coverage of #NBAWCF Game 3 averaged 5,332,000 viewers (Nielsen), up 36% vs ESPN's Conf Finals Game 3 last year (ECF) Game 3 was the most-watched telecast of the night across television and in every key adult and male demo It drew a 14.7 rtg in Phoenix, best since 2010
"If there was any question whether last year's decline was primarily due to the bubble, the fan-less environment, the months-long delay, if there was any question as to whether or not that was true, it's been answered by the fact that the ratings for a postseason where Steph Curry didn't make it to the playoffs and LeBron didn't make it out of the first round are up dramatically from last year, just by default," Sports Media Watch's Jon Lewis, an expert on the subject, told Yahoo Sports. "It's obvious that 99% of why the ratings were so bad was because of the circumstances. Now, were there also people who tuned out because of seeing 'Black Lives Matter' on the court? Maybe, but I can tell you it's painfully obvious that last year's results were primarily because of being in the circumstances that the league found itself late last summer."
That is why you have seen sourced reporting that anticipates a massive increase when the NBA's current media rights deal expires in 2025, like the one from CNBC's Jabari Young in March that set expectations at $75 billion — more than triple the existing package — even amid another regular-season ratings decline. "The value is always rising. You have to think about what that means. What the ratings decline means isn't, 'Oh, my goodness, they're all going to go broke.' That's absurd," added Lewis. "What the ratings decline means is you're going to have to make some sacrifices to get as much money as you want to get. Those sacrifices aren't going to be paying players less. They're probably going to have to put some games on Peacock or ESPN+ or one of these platforms that networks are willing to overpay to get programming for."
The NBA reaches a billion people in more than 215 countries across the world, and roughly three quarters of its viewers are outside the U.S., boosted by the popularity of Antetokounmpo, Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, four of the top six vote-getters in the MVP race. Global viewers on League Pass for the playoffs are up 18% from last year and 24% from 2019, per the NBA. None of them are included in Nielsen ratings.
JD Shaw: Viewership for the playoffs across ABC, TNT and ESPN is up 39% from last season, according to the NBA. More:
Nets Daily: Waiting on Game 7 TV ratings but Games 5 (4.58M viewers) and 6 (4.44M viewers) were among most watched shows on TV those nights. In each case, half million viewers were in New York metro area.
Nets Daily: Tuesday night's Nets-Bucks game was the most watched show on television with 4.58 million viewers nationally. Of that total, 536,000 watched in New York metro area. As one Nets exec told ND, franchise hopes the game was a 'catalyst' to draw young fans to Nets fandom.
The top-ranked prime-time sporting event was TNT’s coverage of the Phoenix Suns’ 125-118 victory over the Denver Nuggets Sunday to complete a four-game sweep of their NBA Western Conference semifinal series. The game, which also topped the cable rankings, averaged 4.216 million viewers, fourth overall.
ABC’s coverage of the Clippers’ 132-106 victory over the Utah Jazz in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series averaged 4.112 million viewers, fifth for the week and most among Saturday’s prime-time programs.
Crupi discusses the first round of the NBA playoffs averaging 3.06 million viewers, up 46 percent over 2020 and up 3 percent versus 2019; what the viewership numbers mean; why the second round of the NBA playoffs will be a significant viewership challenge for the NBA; the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs averaging a total audience of 642,000 viewers across NBC, NBCSN, USA, CNBC and digital outlets; what those numbers mean; what the best viewership possibilities for the NHL, and more.
In the NBA’s first second round since 1994 sans LeBron James, Stephen Curry or Shaquille O’Neal, the streaking Suns may have an argument as the league’s best draw left. Sunday’s Suns-Nuggets NBA second round Game 4 averaged a 2.25 rating and 4.22 million viewers on TNT, marking the largest audience of the second round thus far (through Monday). Ratings and viewership fell 22% from the comparable window in the “bubble” last year, but that was a Laker game on ABC (2.9, 5.43M). Compared to 2019 (Nuggets-Blazers), ratings fell 9% (from 2.5) but viewership increased 4% (from 4.06M).
Thursday’s Clippers-Jazz NBA second round Game 2 averaged 4.07 million viewers on ESPN, up 58% from the comparable night in the “bubble” last year (Nuggets-Clippers Game 1: 2.58M) and the most-watched game of the postseason on ESPN. There was no comparable 2019 window. Utah’s win ranks fifth for the postseason across all networks, behind three Suns-Lakers games and Game 7 of Mavericks-Clippers (5.49M).
Wednesday’s Nuggets-Suns NBA second round Game 2 averaged 3.53 million viewers on TNT, per John Ourand of Sports Business Journal — up 1% from Blazers-Nuggets on the comparable night two years ago (3.51M). Viewership actually declined 18% from the comparable game in the “bubble,” with the caveat that last year’s game was a first round Game 7 (Thunder-Rockets: 4.29M).
The NBA had its most-watched first round of the playoffs in three years. The first round of the NBA Playoffs averaged 3.06 million viewers across ESPN/ABC and TNT, up 46% from last year’s months-delayed, fanless postseason in the “bubble” and up 3% from 2019, the last postseason to begin as normal in the month of April.
Shifting to the highest-profile series of the first round, last Thursday’s Suns-Lakers Game 6 averaged 4.5 million viewers on TNT — the network’s largest opening round audience since 2018 (Cavaliers-Pacers Game 4: 6.07M). The Suns’ Game 5 rout last Tuesday averaged 3.5 million, up 44% from last year in the “bubble” (Mavericks-Clippers: 2.43M) and up 12% from Thunder-Blazers in 2019, a game that ended on a series-clinching three-pointer by Damian Lillard (3.11M).
John Ourand: Mavericks-Clippers Game 7 numbers on ABC are in, and they look good: 5.489 million viewers. Obviously, it was the most watched first round game on any network.
Tim Reynolds: Ratings news: Round 1 of the NBA playoffs was the most-viewed since 2018 - up 46% over last year's August start. NBA games have won key ratings demos every night of the playoffs so far. Global viewership on League Pass through Round 1 is up 21% over last year, 36% over 2019.
NBA playoff viewership continues to surge over last year’s ratings disaster in the “bubble.” Last Sunday’s Suns-Lakers Game 4 averaged 5.38 million viewers on ABC, up 63% from last year’s comparable game in the “bubble” (Clippers-Mavericks: 3.31M) but down 15% from 2019 (Warriors-Clippers: 6.29M). The Suns’ win delivered the fourth-largest NBA audience of the current season, behind Mavericks-Lakers on Christmas (7.01M), the All-Star Game (5.94M) and Warriors-Lakers in the Play-in Tournament (5.62M).
Later Sunday, Nets-Celtics Game 4 averaged 3.47 million on TNT — up 139% from Raptors-Nets in the “bubble” (1.45M) and up 29% from Raptors-Magic in 2019 (2.69M). The Clippers-Mavericks nightcap drew 3.13 million, up 67% from the “bubble” (Nuggets-Jazz: 1.87M) and down 16% from 2019 (Blazers-Thunder: 3.74M). On Saturday, Jazz-Grizzlies Game 3 drew 2.89 million on ESPN — down 10% from 2019 (Rockets-Jazz: 3.19M). Sixers-Wizards led in with 2.24 million, down 42% from Lakers-Blazers in the “bubble,” which aired on ABC (3.86M), and down 10% from 2019 (Bucks-Pistons: 2.48M).
Kyle Neubeck: The Sixers say night’s Game 5 was the highest rated Sixers game on NBC Sports Philadelphia since 2002, and the No. 1 program in primetime last night. 8.6 average rating and a peak of 11.8 (which is in the ballpark of about 313,000 homes concurrently)
The WNBA’s 25th season is off to a roaring start. After the league’s “Wubble” season last year, WNBA viewership is up 74% on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 through the first five games of the 2021 season — an average of 357,000 viewers per game. Opening weekend saw a 325% increase in Canadian viewership — and that’s without a Canada-based team.
Through Thursday, NBA playoff games have averaged 2.89 million viewers across ESPN, ABC and TNT (16 telecasts), up 61% from the comparable point of last year’s months-delayed “bubble” postseason (1.80M) and up 3% from same number of games in 2019, the last time the playoffs took place during its usual time of year (2.80M).
Figures for Thursday’s Game 3 telecasts were not immediately available. Lakers-Suns was the most-watched Game 2 with 4.02 million on TNT Tuesday night, up 17% from the comparable night in the “bubble” (Blazers-Lakers Game 1: 3.45M) and up 55% from 2019 (Thunder-Blazers Game 2: 2.59M). Grizzlies-Jazz ranked second among Game 2s with 2.76 million on TNT Wednesday, up 21% from the “bubble” (Mavericks-Clippers: 2.28M) and up 7% from 2019 (Jazz-Rockets: 2.58M).
You might ask, “What about LeBron?” Yes, he’s the NBA’s biggest remaining draw in this postseason, and when he goes against Steph, it’s a box-office bounty. You could even argue that he’s tied with Curry on a national level. I don’t think that’s the case, but it’s close enough that the argument can be made. On the local level, though? LeBron’s Lakers are nowhere near as watched in the Los Angeles market as the Warriors are in the Bay Area. The SBJ article shows us that the Warriors led all teams in local TV ratings in 2020-2021. Specifically, the Dubs’ 5.96 rating is way ahead of all others — save for the Jazz (5.90), a traditionally rabid one-team market.
The Lakers, who once ran Los Angeles before the Dodgers became one of baseball’s most locally popular teams, claimed only a 1.94 rating on their regional sports network (RSN). The Lakers averaged 96,350 households in the market in 2020-2021, while the Dodgers averaged 233,939 households last season. While you might chalk up that significantly lesser number to James missing 27 games, last season’s Lakers rating of 3.14 is still significantly lower than the recent Warriors mark. That aforementioned 2019-20 season, which was far more watched overall than the pandemic 2020-2021 season, featured a dominant Lakers squad that was charging towards contention for the first time in a decade. Still, its local rating was 89.9 percent lower than what the Warriors garnered this season.
Two big pieces of NBA viewership news happened over the last week, one more positive for the NBA than the other. We’ll start with the bad, in reference to the SBJ findings, and end on the good. This SBJ paragraph offers a good summation of the 2020-2021 RSN ratings picture overall: “The local numbers show some signs of concern, as they have posted decreases for four of the past five seasons, according to Broughton’s research. Numbers are also down three straight seasons and down 30 percent since the 2015-16 season.” Of the 28 NBA teams tracked in 2020-21, 15 declined by double digits. That’s not a majority of teams declining. That’s a majority declining by 10 percent or more. Caveats abound when we discuss the pandemic season, but the issue, as researcher Broughton puts it, is the trend that predates it. As he told me over the phone, “When you see that almost a third of the league see two straight years of significant declines, something’s up.”
The better news for the NBA is that the 2021 opening week is comparable with opening weekend of 2019, edging its average by 5,000 viewers, according to Sports Media Watch. Now, I could get into an arcane explanation of out-of-home counting and why that actually means fewer people watched in 2021 than in 2019. I could also point out that the 2019 opening weekend was totally sideswiped by Tiger Woods winning the Masters, a far bigger national happening than Phil Mickelson winning the PGA last weekend. I could add this context, but it’s sort of besides the point. The NBA’s first order of business was to stop the uncontrolled dive — and on this front, they did it.
The opening weekend of the NBA Playoffs averaged 2.89 million viewers across ESPN, ABC and TNT, up 49% from the first eight games of last year’s postseason, which aired on a Monday and Tuesday in August, and up slightly from the last traditional postseason in 2019 (2.84M). The average is identical to the six Play-in Tournament games that preceded the playoffs. Sunday’s Lakers-Suns Game 1 was the top draw of the weekend, averaging a 2.4 rating and 4.43 million viewers on ABC — topping every first round game in the “bubble” last August. Compared to the last traditional postseason in 2019, ratings slipped 2% but viewership increased 14% from Thunder-Blazers in the same Sunday afternoon window (2.6, 3.90M).
