The 2023 NBA Finals opener between the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets has a 2.21 rating in Game 1 for the 18-49 demographic. About 7.64 million viewers watched the series opener, while approximately 11.4 million viewers watched Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors.
Game 1 of last year’s Finals peaked at 11.4 million, and an average of 8.13 million tuned in to watch. Of Golden State’s six NBA Finals games since 2015, it was the least watched. Also, last year’s finals were the least watched of all series shown in June since 2007. Are streaming services part of the problem?
Aren’t Nuggets interesting to watch? This is Denver’s first appearance in the NBA Finals in its franchise history. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has thrown his weight on the issue. “Now we have an opportunity to re-engineer how fans receive matches,” Silver said.
According to a few NBA betting sites, the Nuggets are favorites to win the 2023 NBA Finals. Check out the sportsbooks that give Nikola Jokic the best odds of winning the Finals MVP award.
NBA Finals Game 1 viewership since 2020:
2020- Lakers vs. Heat: 5.31 million
2021 – Bucks vs Suns: 6.41 million
2022 – Warriors vs. Celtics: 8.13 million
2023 – Nuggets vs. Heat: 7.64 millionBut I thought this match was boring?
– Dylan Brett (DBrettBrackets) June 3, 2023
Silver continued, “It’s clear to me that when I say we have to, the last thing we want to do is disenfranchise fans.” “Not that it has to be any different, but especially when you have a team of the ultimate caliber and we know there is a huge interest in watching these matches.
“I’m very sympathetic to the fans and I get a lot of emails and I’ve seen on social media and just comments while I’m here in the city people saying, ‘It makes absolutely no sense that I can’t watch matches’. I think we have to own up to this problem.”
Of course, fuboTV is one of the popular non-TNT streaming services. Until then, the NBA Finals are broadcast through ABC and ESPN2.
The 2023 NBA Finals Series opener averaged 7.64 million viewers, down from 11.4 million viewers for Game 1 of the Warriors-Celtics series last year.
Compared to the opening of the 2021 NBA Finals series, last year’s Finals exceeded expectations. Additionally, Game 6 averaged 7.5 million viewers, and the Golden State series finale peaked at nearly 14 million. No NBA Finals game has had at least 20 million views since 2017.
Seven years ago, LeBron James and Stephen Curry owned the best-selling jerseys. Fast forward to 2023, and nothing has changed. James and Curry are still the most popular players in the NBA today. Reviews and merchandise sales prove it. This is the first Finals without James or Curry since 2021.
An average of 20.38 million viewers watched the 2017 NBA Finals between the Warriors and Cavaliers. Game 5 was the most watched final game of the century, with 24.47 million viewers.
The 1998 NBA Finals between the Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls tops the most watched list. An average of 29.04 million fans watched this Finals series, making it the most watched playoff series in NBA history. Chicago’s 87-86 Game 6 victory over the Jazz set an NBA record 35.89 million viewers.
Is this one of the most boring NBA Finals ever? pic.twitter.com/POe2MbvV3L
– NBA Memes (NBAMemes) June 2, 2023
In addition, the Nuggets-Lakers game of the previous Western Conference Finals series averaged 7.9 million viewers across ESPN and ABC, making it the most-watched Conference Finals series since 2018.
It was a 13% increase from last year’s seven-game ECF series between the Celtics and Miami Heat. Game 4 of the Nuggets-Lakers Series averaged 8.209 million viewers on ESPN.
Moreover, last month’s Lakers-Warriors conference semi-final series averaged 7.8 million viewers across ABC, ESPN and TNT, making it the most-watched semi-final series in 27 years. Game 1 averaged 7.4 million viewers. It was the most-watched first conference semifinal game in cable television history.
Game three averaged 8.3 million viewers and peaked at 9.7 million viewers. He was Game 3 is the most watched conference semifinal series since 1999. Game 4 drew 7.5 million viewers, making it the most watched conference semifinal game on any network since 2012.