NBA ratings have been surprisingly down this year even though the league has made more news than normal during the early months of the regular season. However, that didn’t stop the headlining Christmas Day Finals rematch between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers from bucking the trend.
The game was up 17% from last year’s Heat-Cavaliers showdown and drew an impressive 11 million viewers.
Via ESPN:
On Christmas, the Golden State Warriors’ 89-83 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on ABC, a rematch of the most-watched NBA Finals in ABC history, drew nearly 11 million viewers (10,923,000, p2+), according to Fast Nationals from Nielsen. It was up 17 percent from the comparable game in 2014 (Cavaliers-Heat, 9,328,000 viewers, p2+). The Warriors-Cavaliers telecast was the most-watched NBA Christmas Day telecast since 2011.
The average audience for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s victory over the Chicago Bulls on ABC was also up from last year, averaging nearly six million viewers, (5,962,000 p2+). This was up from 5,885,000 viewers (p2+) for the Spurs-Thunder telecast on ABC in 2014. The ABC Christmas Day doubleheader average was up 13 percent from 2014, averaging an audience of 8,629,000 viewers (p2+) compared to 7,648,000 viewers (p2+) last year.
This year’s five-game slate averaged 5,546,000 viewers (p2+) up six percent compared to last year’s five-game slate (5,217,000 viewers p2+), which saw just three games on ABC and ESPN combined. Also, viewership for all five games on ABC and ESPN was up from 2013, the last time ABC and ESPN combined for a five-game Christmas Day slate
The most encouraging thing beyond the Cavs-Warriors ratings were the rest of the day-long slate of games seeing improved ratings from last year. Christmas Day is the marquee day of the regular season, so the NBA knows that fans will at least still come around for these major occasions. The next step will be to see whether or not ABC and the NBA can build momentum for their new Saturday night primetime series of games, which considering the stout schedule of games, should quickly become a regular season priority for the league and fans alike. Or, the NBA can just put every Warriors game on national television. That would solve a lot of problems too.
[ESPN]
