2023 NBA Finals ratings dip, playoff ratings rise
The 2023 NBA season concluded Monday as the Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat to win the series 4-1. It was an overall good series, although a bit shorter than desired. Denver won its first championship in team history, ending a 47-year drought. Miami’s miraculous playoff run came up just short after becoming just second ever 8-seed to make the NBA Finals.
Unfortunately, these enticing storylines did not lead to phenomenal viewership numbers during the Finals. Nevertheless, the playoffs as a whole on ABC, ESPN and TNT were the most watched postseason in five years.
The Denver-Miami series on ABC averaged 11.64 million viewers, which was lower than the 2022 Golden State-Boston series which averaged 12.402 million viewers.
The decrease in viewership has largely been attributed to the Nuggets and Heat not being major market teams. Conversely, the Warriors are one of the most popular teams worldwide and the Celtics are one of the league’s most historic franchises. I think this played a big part in the dip in ratings. The series also only went five games, which does not help overall viewership.
Ultimately, it will always be more difficult to obtain the viewership of more casual sports fans when the finals do not consist of popular franchises like the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks.
Nevertheless, the Denver-Miami series was a great culmination of an overall exciting and fun NBA season. The ABC, ESPN and TNT ratings during the 2023 playoffs, according to Nielsen, demonstrates the popularity of the NBA.
NBA Playoffs Ratings
The NBA playoffs as a whole were amazing this year with a plethora of great series and performances. It was a year of parity, as the conference finals produced matchups between a 1-seed and 7-seed and a 2-seed and 8-seed — that is a level of variety that is not seen often in the playoffs.
The 2023 NBA Playoffs were the first time in 40 postseasons that each seed (one through eight) advanced to the second round.
There also were three Game 7s in this postseason. The Warriors and Kings first-round matchup went to a seventh game. Not only was this series, arguably, the most entertaining clash, but Game 7 drew 9.8 million views, making it the most watched first-round NBA playoff game in 24 years. The Celtics played in two Game 7s, the first one against the Philadelphia 76ers and the next one was against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.
These playoffs had no shortage of competitive series, upsets, and it showcased a mix of big and small market teams.
***
CLICK HERE for more NBA content!
