The 2019 NBA Playoffs will go down as a checkmark in the win column for ABC. That is largely thanks to there being a Game 6 between Golden State and Toronto in the NBA Finals.
All of the 2019 playoff games across ESPN and ABC averaged a 5.1 rating. That is up from the 5.0 average rating in both 2017 and 2018. The NBA Finals in those seasons went five and four games respectively.
The ratings for the Raptors’ title-clinching win over the Warriors were down from past Game 6s. Austin Karp of the Sports Business Journal pointed out that the last NBA Finals Game 6 (2016) scored a 14.1 rating, significantly higher than Thursday night’s 13.2. The 2019 Finals though had a number of factors working against it from a broadcasting point of view.
First, this was the first NBA Finals in a decade without the league’s biggest star, LeBron James. The series saw injuries to star players Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson. Most importantly, Canadian viewership does not count in American TV ratings. If the trend continues, Game 6 likely set a Canadian broadcast record.
