🏀 Miami Heat vs. Denver Nuggets #NBAFinals Game 2 on ABC matched last year’s average audience for Game 2 – Golden State vs. Boston – with 11,910,000 viewers. (Nielsen)
👀The broadcast peaked at 10:15 p.m. ET with 15,256,000 viewers.
🏆It easily won the night across all of TV.
🏀 Miami Heat vs. Denver Nuggets #NBAFinals Game 2 on ABC matched last year's average audience for Game 2 – Golden State vs. Boston – with 11,910,000 viewers. (Nielsen)
👀The broadcast peaked at 10:15 p.m. ET with 15,256,000 viewers.
🏆It easily won the night across all of TV. pic.twitter.com/zxeF15YaQx
— Ben Cafardo (@Ben_ESPN) June 6, 2023
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NBA Finals Audience since 2020 for Game 1 and 2
– 2020: 7.41M / 6.61M
– 2021: 8.56M / 9.38M
– 2022: 11.90M / 11.91M
– 2023: 11.58M / 11.91M
by aaliyaahson
50 Comments
I was told nobody was gonna watch it
I was told by lakers fans nobody would watch these finals
But I was told no one would watch a series between Denver and Miami
Is this a good thing, or are people gonna have to taking pay cuts? 😅
Wait until Game 4 when Denver is down 2-1
A fantastic game to watch also
All the NBA fans that were rooting for the Lakers vs. Celtics rehash (and are now rooting for low Finals numbers to confirm that bias) need to realize if the NBA can only do big numbers in the Finals with those 5 big name/ big market teams (Lakers, Celtics, Warriors, Knicks, Bulls), then the NBA has a problem and needs to do a better job marketing the other 83% of their league.
PEOPLE ARE WATCHING?!
Shame how some fans, especially Celtics and Lakers fans, can’t just be happy that the NBA as a whole can succeed without them being the in the finals. It’s a win for the whole league if the ratings are up for any finals match.
Hey, Lakers, Celtics, and Knicks fans said nobody would watch?
Those bubble ratings were rough, huh? Not surprised given it was broadcast from an empty gym but also nothing else was on and everyone was inside.
I have no idea why people in this thread are pretending that Lakers fans alone were the one pushing this narrative, I saw it come from almost every flair (other than the Nuggets and Heat fans).
[deleted]
Small Markets 12/25
Those audience numbers for game 1 are great too wtf was this sub talking about after game 1 lmao
Ok yea, whatever that’s impressive, but IMAGINE Lakers-Celtics for #18 or #19 and instead of seeing the best two teams you get NARRATIVES. Guys, who needs to watch sports for sports, let’s look at the drama behind the scenes. Lakers-Celtics would break 20mil, Silver make it happen.
This heat team is fun and Jokic is genuinely must watch tv. Glad audiences agree.
This has got to be proof that quality of product in and of itself is a draw and should make the league consider shortening the regular season to make the games more meaningful and less likely to have guys sitting
it was honestly pathetic how many so called NBA fans were rooting for this series to do poorly
I thought the finals weren’t interesting 🧐
That’s good. Probably more would watch it if the ESPN idiots weren’t on the call though. Mike Breen is okay kinda…. But the rest need to be replaced. Starting with the homophobe Mark Jackson.
I mean what real basketball fan doesnt like to watch Jokic?
This dispels the theory that viewers only want the casual teams. New blood and good basketball is healthy
It’s good basketball, market size matters not.
Legit some casual fan only watch highlights dunk or 3s
The numbers look good until you realize the first and second round numbers were higher than the finals…
Imagine if we could quantify illegal streams too lol
Strauss was just talking about this how they’re easing in the out of home ratings. So all the numbers are going to look bigger.
I don’t understand how people don’t find interesting when NBA teams make the Finals for the first time.
“The finals will be shown by Serbian network Arena Sport 1, which has 1.1 million subscribers — a number that represents roughly 15% of Serbia’s population”.
So hardly anyone watched bubble Lakers?! Lmao
NBA has to be stoked with the way this is playing out. Two teams, and one especially in Denver, that get little airtime and promotion are getting solid ratings without them going out of their way pushing them. Makes the league bigger than team brands, but also makes both the Heat and Nuggets viable to them moreso than before.
Lebron not needed
imagine how many more would tune in for the TNT crew
“No one’s going to watch this finals”
“Lowest rated finals in history”
Suck my dick Twitter and TikTok Celtic fans
But Lakers Twitter told me this was gonna be a boring and unwatched Finals
Heat and Nuggets saved the NBA from being cancelled by a snoozefest Lakers/Celtics finals. Thank God for Joker and Jimmy
It’s…it’s almost like fans are ready for something else other than any combo of a Curry/KD/Lebron Finals and constant discussion about….
Why are we acting like 11.91 million is good? There are 8 billion people in the world, sheeple, at least 4 billion of those should be watching our ~~American~~ European overlords play
So the worst year for viewership was when the Lakers played? But I was told you NEED the lakers to get views 😩
Celtics fans in shambles
Great news. These numbers mean one of or a combo of:
1. We were going to see big numbers regardless and LAL v BOS woulda dwarfed last year’s numbers
2. People are going to watch the Finals regardless of who’s in it.
3. People find MIA/DEN fun teams to watch.
Either way, great news.
That’s awesome for the league and it’s fans. Shows the value in small market teams with dedicated fanbases and encourages more “fair” treatment if you buy the officiating theories
That bubble chip is so putrid and you got lakers fans crying about how no one’s gonna watch this series 😭
Funny to see the same team, Miami, that was in 2020 against the Lakers drew more now against the Nuggets. Yet the NBA keeps pushing that they need LeBron to draw people.
Who’s running this league?
Good fucking game too. Glad people are watching!
Hopefully we never hear about the small market bullshit again.
Called this in a post last night. I said it would match or exceed gm 2 from last year. This is a great series. Gm 1 the Heat missed open shots. Calling it now gm 3 will exceed Warriors Celtics gm 3 from last year.
Good shit. NBA is going in strong to the next media deal.
Get ready for 60-70 million per year max deals pretty dam soon.
Ethan Strauss in shambles