The NBA playoffs capitalized on historic viewership from a holiday weekend to deliver strong growth.
The first round of the postseason averaged 3.7 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, and TNT, up 6% from last year’s 3.5 million total, according to Nielsen. The total was driven, in part, by the 4.4 million average of the league’s eight-game opening weekend, which fell on the Easter holiday, the NBA’s most-watched opening weekend in 25 years and up 17% from last year.
ESPN platforms (ABC and ESPN) averaged 4.46 million viewers across 12 games, up 14% from last year. ABC led the way with 5.56 million viewers over six games, a 14% increase. The six games on ESPN were up 10%. These numbers mirror the regular season, when ABC was up 10% despite the full league national TV viewership declining by 2% due to declines in games on cable.
TNT averaged 3.3 million viewers across 25 first-round playoff games, a 3% increase from last year. That number was highlighted by Game 7 between the Warriors and Rockets on Sunday, which drew 6.6 million viewers, the most-watched first-round Game 7 on cable since 2009 (Bulls vs. Celtics).
That was the third-most-watched game of the entire first round, behind two weekend games on ABC: Game 4 of Lakers vs. Timberwolves (7.4 million) and Game 1 of Magic vs. Celtics (6.7 million).
The question now is whether the NBA can continue its momentum into the second round after LeBron James, Luka Dončić, and the Lakers were eliminated. In the regular season, the Lakers played in the most-watched game (vs. the Warriors on Christmas Day), the most-watched non-Christmas game (vs. the Celtics on March 8), and the most-watched non-Christmas, non-opening-night game on cable (vs. the Mavericks on Feb. 25).
The positive for the league is that the Warriors, another ratings draw, advanced to the second round and face the Timberwolves and rising star Anthony Edwards, who was the most-watched player on NBA social media in the first round.
