at ORACLE Arena on January 21, 2015 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement.
2015By Matt Yoder on

NBA ratings have been surprisingly down throughout this season.  The regular season numbers saw declines of 12% and 10% respectively for TNT and ESPN.  And with exactly half of the total playoff series thus far ending in either four or five games, postseason ratings are far short of what they could be.

But there might be at least one ray of hope with the upcoming Finals.  Rockets-Warriors Game 5 was the highest rated NBA game on the network in three years, scoring a 6.8 overnight.  The announcement from ESPN:

Game 5 of the 2015 NBA Western Conference Finals – the Golden State Warriors defeated the Houston Rockets to advance to the NBA Finals – delivered a strong 6.8 overnight rating, according to Nielsen. The game peaked with an 8.1 rating from 11:30 p.m. – 11:45 p.m. ET.

Last night’s telecast is the highest-rated NBA game on ESPN since its telecast of Miami Heat-Boston Celtics Eastern Conference Finals Game 7 on June 9, 2012. Game 5 is also the highest-rated ESPN telecast of 2015 since the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship on January 12.

Additionally, Game 5 was up double-digits from both the Western Conference Finals and Eastern Conference Finals Game 5’s in 2014.  Last night’s 6.8 was up 28 percent from a 5.3 for San Antonio-Oklahoma City in 2014 and up 19 percent from a 5.7 for Miami-Indiana in 2014.

The NBA has not caught a real break yet this postseason.  Aside from some drama in Bulls-Cavs in the second round and Clippers-Spurs in the first round, the playoffs have contained a lot of non-competitive series.  The conference finals had just nine games between them.  In comparison, both Stanley Cup Conference Finals are going seven games.

Looking ahead though, there’s some hope the NBA Finals can be a big draw if the series goes six or seven games.  This rating from ESPN shows that the Warriors can be a draw (at least better than San Antonio or maybe even Oklahoma City).  When you combine that with the audience LeBron James will surely bring and the NBA should have an encouraging close to the season after a bit of a bumpy ratings ride.

[ESPN]

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