The six-game series, which saw the Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns win Games 1 and 2 at home before ultimately losing the next four in both Wisconsin and Arizona, averaged 9.9 million total viewers per game, according to Nielsen’s Live + Same Day ratings. That was up 32% from the 2020 NBA Finals, which averaged just 7.5 million viewers per game.
Of course, last year’s NBA Finals were delayed to late September/early October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The timing was not ideal, nor was the bubble setting. There were no fans in attendance for the 2020 Miami Heat vs. Los Angeles Lakers series, won in six games by L.A.
The 2019 Finals, the most recent normal one, averaged 15.1 million total viewers per game. From that one — when Toronto Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors in six games — to this one, the decline is 34%.
Throughout the entire 2021 postseason, TV-usage levels (called PUT levels, or People Using Televisions) were down 14% vs. 2020 and -23% vs. 2019. And airing this year’s Game 5 on a Saturday — the first time an NBA Finals game was played on a Saturday in 40 years — certainly didn’t help in series averages.
Due to the coronavirus’ impact on the 2019-20 NBA season, the start to the 2021 NBA Postseason was pushed back a bit, just like the regular season. And in general, the adjusted July footprint for these delayed NBA Finals delivers 5% fewer organic TV viewers than does the championship series’ normal two-week window in June.
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