Austin Karp of the Sports Business Journal reported this week that the NBA Playoff ratings are down 18% after the second weekend of games across TNT, ABC, ESPN and NBA TV. The most obvious reason for this drop in television viewership is the lack of LeBron James and the endless storylines that surround the King. With James and his Los Angeles Lakers on the sidelines, the first round has not inspired the casual sports fan to tune in as of yet. Second-round matchups between teams like the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks as well as the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, however, could potentially reverse the current trend.
The television ratings drop is not unprecedented if you look back through NBA postseason history. According to Forbes, the 1998 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz, which would prove to be Michael Jordan’s last championship, drew an average of 29 million viewers for the series. When the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs met one year later, the NBA Finals averaged only 16 million viewers. In 2017, for comparison, LeBron’s Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors averaged 20.4 million viewers.
After appearing in eight-straight NBA Finals with the Heat and Cavs, it will be interesting to see what impact the lack of LeBron will continue to have as we move deeper into the postseason. If this first-round sample size is any indication, expect a drop in viewership when the championship is decided in June.
