It seems like hardly a day goes by when there’s not a new press release touting the best NBA TV ratings in years.
That trend continued Tuesday morning when ESPN announced that the first two playoff rounds on its platforms, including ABC, averaged 5.23 million viewers, the highest number since the network began carrying the NBA in the 2002-03 season, and up 14 percent since last year.
Game 6 of Lakers-Warriors drew 8.64 million viewers on ESPN and Game 7 of Celtics-Sixers on ABC had 8.44 million; these were the two most-watched second-round playoff games since 2011.
Five of the six Lakers-Warriors games, whether they were on ESPN, ABC or TNT, were in the top-10 most-watched first- or second-round games of the last decade, according to Sports Media Watch.
In the first round, when Game 7 between the Kings and Warriors drew 9.84 million viewers, it was the most-watched first-round game in 24 years, dating back to Bill Clinton’s presidency.
There are several reasons attributable to why the numbers have been so gobsmacking, ranging from particularly compelling matchups to the way Nielsen’s numbers are tabulated to perhaps the recapturing of some lapsed fans.
Blockbuster matchups
It’s impossible for the NBA to concoct up a more compelling second-round series than LeBron James and the Lakers versus the Warriors’ dynastic roster of Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and coach Steve Kerr.
While a member of the Cavs, James faced the Warriors in four straight NBA Finals from 2015-18, with 2016 and 2017 drawing the two highest Finals viewership totals since the Michael Jordan era.
James versus the Warriors has been, along with Tom Brady versus Peyton Manning, the biggest sports rivalry in a generation.
But other series have also been popping, with a deep roster of stars including Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Nikola Jokic, Jimmy Butler, De’Aaron Fox, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jalen Brunson, Joel Embiid, James Harden, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
The playoffs have also anecdotally felt less inevitable on a series-to-series basis than in past years.
For example, the Heat shocked the Bucks in one of the most improbable upsets in recent postseason sports history, and while the Celtics defeated the Sixers as expected, they had to overcome an unexpected 3-2 deficit to win.
Out-of-home viewership
Any sports TV ratings now need to be viewed with the lens of out-of-home ratings.
Nielsen did not begin including viewership in bars, hotels and gyms and at houses of friends and family until 2020.
Therefore, numbers compared to the last several seasons are on a somewhat even playing field, albeit with more people out-and-about now than early in the pandemic.
It feels safe to say more people are watching the NBA playoffs than at least at any point since the bubble in the 2020 playoffs.
However, it’s very difficult to get an apples-to-apples comparison on how much out-of-home numbers are affecting the numbers relative to what they would have been in years prior.
Focus on the games
Finally, it’s conceivable that the NBA has regained some lapsed fans as the league has for some time now removed political messaging from its game presentations.
In the bubble, as Phil Jackson has spoken about, there were social justice slogans embedded on the court and even on the backs of player jerseys.
Whether or not you think people like Jackson who said they tuned the NBA out over it were justified in their feelings, it did seem on the margins as though there were people expressing their dissatisfaction by neglecting the product.
The 2020 NBA Finals between the Lakers and Heat, which took place in a wonky part of the calendar in October, were the least-watched since at least 1986, while 2021’s Suns-Bucks matchup had the third-lowest total in that stretch.
