NBA Finals Game 1 viewership down nearly 20 percent despite Tyrese Haliburton game-winner
The game peaked with more than 11 million viewers during Indiana's late comeback, which could bode well for Game 2.
The game peaked with more than 11 million viewers during Indiana's late comeback, which could bode well for Game 2.
"Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference Finals flopped in the ratings."
Viewership is up 2% versus the same point last year.
"Local ratings are very much driven by which teams that year exceeded expectations and had all the casual fans come in to join the ride."
Viewership for the eight games across ABC, ESPN, TNT, and truTV averaged 4.39 million viewers.
"There were a bunch of factors I think that led to our ratings being down early on."
Teams like the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat saw declines of over 50%.
National NBA viewership is down just 2% versus last season across ABC, ESPN, and TNT.
The audience peaked at 2.79 million viewers.
The Trail Blazers set an all-time franchise margin of victory record Saturday, but are far from the only team putting up lopsided results.
Dan Le Batard was apoplectic over the sky is falling narrative about NBA ratings because the league just cashed in on huge TV deals.
"They clearly don't care about rest or player health; it's just ratings — and all that stuff."
The league's viewership is down 5% year-over-year, but was down 19% earlier this season.
Watching Luka Dončić and LeBron James figuring it out on the fly will be fascinating.
"Part of what I think we can do better is not just tell the larger stories about player's and their lives and off-the-floor and all that, but the nitty gritty."
The two conference-leading squads will meet again next Thursday, January 16.
"I didn't make it all the way through the clip."
ESPN's NBA ratings have completely turned around after a monster Christmas Day audience has propelled the network to a 5% increase.
For the first time, the full NBA slate was available on ABC as well as ESPN+ and Disney+.