NBA Finals Sets Record Low TV Audience With Game 1
The Los Angeles Lakers obliterated the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the 2020 NBA Finals on Wednesday. While that was great news for LeBron James and Lakers fans, it was not so great for ABC, who garnered the smallest viewership for an NBA Finals game ever. Wednesday night’s 116-98 (and it wasn’t even that close) win by the Lakers drew 7.41 million viewers, coming in 8% below the prior low of 8.06 million for Game 2 of the 2003 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets. The previous low for a Game 1 came in 2007 (9.21 million), when the Spurs beat up LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers. Last year’s Game 1 between the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors drew 13.31 million viewers. This year’s audience was slightly more than half of that. We should point out that it was still the most-viewed program on TV Wednesday night. Also Read: Why ABC's NBA Finals Face Uphill Battle in TV Ratings - Despite LeBron James and the Lakers We’ve already described the myriad of ratings challenges facing the NBA Finals this year, which are tipping off four months later than usual and amid an extremely busy...
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