Is an OKC vs. IND Finals good for the league?

[Moranis]

More games like last night will help ratings. Excellent exciting game with an amazing finish

[Who]

Sports Media Watch
@paulsen_smw

Haliburton heroics not enough to save NBA Finals Game 1 from weak start in the ratings -- least-watched Game 1 of people meter era (1988-present) outside of the two COVID years

[Neurotic Guy]

Sports Media Watch
@paulsen_smw

Haliburton heroics not enough to save NBA Finals Game 1 from weak start in the ratings -- least-watched Game 1 of people meter era (1988-present) outside of the two COVID years

Have to wonder if after the Indy win, and way they won, whether ratings will jump - at least for G2. 

[Vermont Green]

Sports Media Watch
@paulsen_smw

Haliburton heroics not enough to save NBA Finals Game 1 from weak start in the ratings -- least-watched Game 1 of people meter era (1988-present) outside of the two COVID years

Have to wonder if after the Indy win, and way they won, whether ratings will jump - at least for G2.

I think there were a series of problems for game 1.  The two small markets is one but they also had almost a week delay from the conference finals last games.   They let the whole thing get kind of cold.  I think the fans will come around.  I doubt they set any ratings records but I expect they will gain some momentum.

[Moranis]

Sports Media Watch
@paulsen_smw

Haliburton heroics not enough to save NBA Finals Game 1 from weak start in the ratings -- least-watched Game 1 of people meter era (1988-present) outside of the two COVID years

Have to wonder if after the Indy win, and way they won, whether ratings will jump - at least for G2.

I think there were a series of problems for game 1.  The two small markets is one but they also had almost a week delay from the conference finals last games.   They let the whole thing get kind of cold.  I think the fans will come around.  I doubt they set any ratings records but I expect they will gain some momentum.

plus the odds and media didn't help. So many pundits claimed the Pacwrs had no chance that it probably turned away a bunch of people in game 1.

[Goldstar88]

Sports Media Watch
@paulsen_smw

Haliburton heroics not enough to save NBA Finals Game 1 from weak start in the ratings -- least-watched Game 1 of people meter era (1988-present) outside of the two COVID years

Well, that answers that. This also why the league operates the way that it does.

[bdm860]

Sports Media Watch
@paulsen_smw

Haliburton heroics not enough to save NBA Finals Game 1 from weak start in the ratings -- least-watched Game 1 of people meter era (1988-present) outside of the two COVID years

The easy spin is "small markets" along with no mega stars that transcend the game (Jordan, LeBron, etc.), but I think the real story is different and talking heads will avoid it altogether, and it's that TV ratings are continually down.

2024 (BOS/DAL), Game 1 was the lowest rated Game 1 ever at the time (excluding Covid '20 and '21)
2023 (DEN/MIA), Game 1 was the lowest rated Game 1 ever at the time (excluding Covid '20 and '21)
2022 (GSW/BOS), Game 1 was tied for the 2nd lowest rated Game 1 ever at the time (excluding Covid '20 and '21), tied with '03, with only '07 lower by .1.

Notice a trend?

MLB, same story. We just had LA Dodgers vs New York Yankees World Series. That's the 2 biggest markets, with 2 of the biggest stars (Judge and Ohtani, plus Betts, Freeman, Soto), and they had the 4th lowest Game 1 rating of all time (excluding Covid '20), while '23, '22, and '21 were all the lowest rated Game 1's ever at the time (excluding Covid season). So same trend there.

NFL can hide their decline ratings behind total viewership (which grows because the population grows), but despite them claiming the to be the most watched program ever every year for the last 3 years straight, ratings are trending down: 6 of the 7 lowest rated Super Bowls in the last 20 years have all happened in the last 7 years.

Sure the ratings would improve a little with bigger market teams (similar to what just happened to MLB), but even if you trade Giannis to the Knicks and we get a Lakers/Knicks Finals next year, we'd still probably get a bottom 5 all time rating.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Just wanted to say that having 2 days off between games when no travel is involved is ridiculous.

[Who]

Just wanted to say that having 2 days off between games when no travel is involved is ridiculous.

Agreed. Bummed there is no game tonight.

[Who]

Game 2 of the 2025 NBA Finals averaged 8.76 million viewers on ABC, which was down 29 percent from Game 2 in 2024.

The game was the least watched Game 2 of the Finals, outside of the bubble in 2020, since 2007 when the San Antonio Spurs' win over the Cleveland Cavaliers drew 8.55 million despite competing against the series finale of "The Sopranos."

There was some hope of a bounce in ratings after the Pacers had an exciting comeback win over the Thunder in Game 2.

The Pacers-Thunder NBA Finals now ranks as only the second of the Nielsen people meter era (1988-present) in which neither Game 1 nor Game 2 hit the nine million mark. The Finals between the Cavaliers-Spurs in 2007 and Nets-Spurs in 2003 each hit nine million for Game 1 or 2.

However, this year's series still outranks everything else on television.

[Redz]

Just wanted to say that having 2 days off between games when no travel is involved is ridiculous.

Agreed. Bummed there is no game tonight.

What little juice Indy's game 1 comeback gave this series is now dry.  There's something to be said for a predictable schedule. 

The series is decided tonight I think.  Must win for Indy. 

[Amonkey]

Just wanted to say that having 2 days off between games when no travel is involved is ridiculous.

Agreed. Bummed there is no game tonight.

What little juice Indy's game 1 comeback gave this series is now dry.  There's something to be said for a predictable schedule. 

The series is decided tonight I think.  Must win for Indy.

I completely agree. Having to wait days for the game is loses all momentum. Instead we got a blow out in game 2 and less people interested in how they respond in game 3.

[bdm860]

Just wanted to say that having 2 days off between games when no travel is involved is ridiculous.

Agreed. Bummed there is no game tonight.

What little juice Indy's game 1 comeback gave this series is now dry.  There's something to be said for a predictable schedule. 

The series is decided tonight I think.  Must win for Indy.

I completely agree. Having to wait days for the game is loses all momentum. Instead we got a blow out in game 2 and less people interested in how they respond in game 3.

I've never been happy with the way the NBA has handled the Finals schedule over the last 20 years since I've really been paying attention.

Mid-2000s they started doing Finals games only on Thu, Sun, Tue with a 2-3-2 format. That means there were 2 days off between Games 1-2 and 4-5 when teams aren't traveling, and only 1 day off between Games 2-3  and 5-6 when teams are traveling. That just seems ridiculous.

2014 they switched to 2-2-1-1-1 format, but kept games only on Thu, Sun, Tue, so still the same issues for Games 1-2 (2 days off but no travel) and 2-3 (1 day with travel), but now only 1 day off between Games 5-6 and 6-7 when there would be travel. You'd think you'd want players well rested on those important Game 6s and 7s.

Then 2016 the league switched to 2 games off for every game, still starting on Thu. So sure now players are rested, but as we're witnessing now, it can kill the viewing momentum.

I don't really know what the solution is though, because the NBA (and TV partners) seem to want to maximize Thu and Sun games for best rating chances, and the current schedule gets Games 1-2 and 6-7 on those days, which is where you'd want them (to pull in viewers at the start, then capitalize on it all if the series goes long). 

I think it would probably be better though if they started on Sunday, and went Sun/Tue (Games 1-2) then Fri/Sun (Games 3-4), then Tue (Game 5), Thu (Game 6), Sun (Game 7). This way the NBA and TV partners keep the good rating days (getting at least 2 Sundays with the potential for 3) and minimizing bad days (still 1 Friday, no Saturdays). Good for fans/players with only 1 day off when not traveling, and 2 days off when traveling, except for between Games 5-6, which is the best compromise I could come up with.

[Phantom255x]

The biggest issue is the multiple days off between games happening almost all series except once. Even last year, it was pretty nerve-wracking just constantly waiting between games. I'd also prefer to just have the extra day off between travel days. So just let there be a day off between Games 1 and 2, and Games 3 and 4. The other times with travel, sure.

[Who]

One Last Shot wrote:
Here's the average viewers of NBA Finals series in Y2K era


2000's
-14.39 million average viewers

2010's
-17.87 million average viewers
(+24% increase of viewers)

2020's
-10.27 million average viewers
(-42.5% loss of viewers)


For comparison, numbers on LeBron's 8 straight Finals
-18.18 million average viewers
(+77% increase of viewers in comparison to 2020's)

Sam Vecenie
@Sam_Vecenie

This is thing that people have always missed about the ratings conversation. yes, overall viewership is down. But think about it from an advertiser's perspective: because it's most watched thing so far in May/June, it's still where you want your ad dollars at the end of the day