The Boston Celtics kept the Dallas Mavericks at arm’s length in Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals, and viewers did not stick around in the hope of a Dallas comeback.
Per Sports Media Watch, 11.04 million viewers (including 43,000 on ESPN Deportes and 10.99 million on ABC) watched Boston’s 18-point win, down from Game 1 in both 2022 (11.90 million) and 2023 (11.58 million).
Despite the decline from the last two seasons, the game was still up from Game 1 of the 2020 (7.69 million) and 2021 (8.70 million) Finals matchups.
The game turning into a laugher early (Boston went up by ten points late in the first quarter and only didn’t lead by double digits for roughly a minute of the entire last three quarters) had a clear impact on viewership. The audience for Game 1 peaked in the 9:15 p.m. ET quarter-hour with 12.11 million viewers and continued declining the rest of the way, finishing with just 9.01 million viewers in the 10:45 p.m. ET (and final) quarter-hour.
The drop for Game 1 comes after both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference Finals saw year-over-year declines thanks to the matchups going just four and five games, respectively.
The positive spin on Game 1’s viewership is that it wiped the floor with everything else on television. ESPN’s release touts a record share of 20.3% for Game 1 (meaning that (20.3% of televisions in use on Thursday were watching the game), the largest ever for a Finals Game 1 on ABC, with a 49.6% share in the 18-34 demographic.
Game 2 airs on Sunday, June 9 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
[Data via Sports Media Watch]
