Ratings for the Cavaliers’ win over the Thunder were up 20 percent from last year, with an average of 1.87 million viewers
CLEVELAND – On Wednesday night, a great NBA game between two excellent young teams that also play in small markets was watched by a large number of people.
Ratings for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ thrilling 129-122 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, which was broadcast nationally on ESPN, were up 20 percent from the network’s game in the same time period last season and averaged 1.87 million viewers.
Additionally, ESPN’s late game from the same night, the Milwaukee Bucks’ 121-105 win over San Antonio, averaged 1.38 million viewers — up 88 percent from the game in the same time period last year.
Why are TV ratings for a pair of midweek games in the news in January? Because of the players who played in the games, the locations of their teams (not in New York or Los Angeles), and the constant talk of the NBA’s declining TV ratings as an indication that fans are losing interest in the sport.
Maybe they’re not, after all. The Cavaliers are, by far, one of the best regular season teams of all time at 33-4; The Thunder are not far behind with 30 wins and have a true MVP candidate in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Viewership for that game peaked at 2.5 million viewers.
According to Sports Media Watch, it was Cavs-Thunder The sixth highest rated NBA game It was shown exclusively on cable this season and the fourth most-watched game that wasn’t on Opening Night, Christmas Day or the NBA Cup Finals.
“It was just pure basketball, pure competition,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Whoever wins, loses, it was just a good game for the league.”
After fans were treated to a brutal, frenetic game that included 30 lead changes, eight turnovers, and a one-possession game with less than two minutes left in Cleveland, they stopped to watch the Bucks, with one of basketball’s current best players in Giannis Antetokounmpo, take on the potential next face. For Sports Victor Wembanyama, the second-year Spurs star.
According to the Station Index, which tracks the size of television markets, Cleveland (which extends south to Akron) is the 17th largest television market in the United States; Milwaukee is 35th. San Antonio is 37th. Oklahoma City is 34th.
The NBA’s biggest ratings drivers are the Lakers, where LeBron James just turned 40; Warriors, where Steph Curry turns 36; The Boston Celtics – the winningest franchise in league history.
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Among the three midweek games this season that have drawn more than the Cavs’ Thunder (according to Sports Media Watch) was the Celtics-Warriors game, the return of former Golden State star Klay Thompson to the Bay Area with Dallas and the first of two games so far. Between the Celtics and Cleveland.
With James and Curry on the verge of retirement (the Lakers-Warriors Christmas game was the most-watched NBA regular-season game in five years, with an average viewership of 7.91 million on ABC), the league will do well for a new generation of fans. The stars. And teams to communicate with the general public.
The Cavs’ top four players — Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen — are all under 30 and have signed long-term contracts in Cleveland. The Thunder held the youngest roster in the league on opening night, both deep and loaded with draft capital (picks). Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, said afterward that he couldn’t imagine playing anywhere outside of OKC. All of this means that these two teams are on track to be good for years.
“There’s a lot of great players and I think there’s a lot of great teams in the league, there’s a lot of great young players in the league,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault, 39, said. “I think the league is in a very good position going forward, not only because of those two teams (Thunder and Cavs), but also because there are a lot of teams, a lot of players — I think it’s a very healthy product right now. And I think those two teams are part of that.”
Last month in Las Vegas, before the NBA Cup Finals, commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged the league’s declining television ratings and also said that declining ratings did not mean declining interest in the league.
Through the NBA Cup semifinals, viewership for the league’s national partners — ESPN, ABC and TNT — was down 19 percent from the same time last year, but the sport enjoyed a nice increase in viewership on Christmas, led by the Lakers. Warriors. game. Ratings are now down 4 percent for the season.
The Cavs and Thunder meet in a rematch next week, at 7:30 PM EST in Oklahoma City, which will be broadcast on TNT.
When asked after the narrow loss to Cleveland whether his team’s overall success and the hype generated over the first game between Cleveland and Oklahoma City meant the national networks would “put more cameras” around the Thunder, Gilgeous-Alexander said, “Sure, why not?” “It won’t hurt.”
And he seems right.
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(Photo: Jason Miller/Getty Images)
