NBA Playoffs Post Large Viewership Increases

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Viewership during the NBA Playoffs rose 12% on ABC, TNT, ESPN and NBA TV.

Games during the first round averaged more than 3.1 million viewers, making it the most-viewed first round in three years.

ABC broadcasts averaged 5.5 million views, up 11%, for its most-watched first round in six years. Game one of the Warriors-Trail Blazers series averaged 6.5 million viewers, making it ABC’s most-watched opening weekend game ever.

Related: ESPN's NFL Draft Coverage Scores Big on Social Media

TNT games averaged 3.4 million viewers, up 13%, and ESPN averaged 3 million viewers, up 14%.

The NBA set records on social media for impressions, with 3.6 billion, up 5% from last year’s post season. Video views on social platforms was up 60% to 701 million.

Live arena attendance was also up for the NBA, with all 44 first-round games sold out.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.