Nba Viewership By Year. Those figures represent a 66 percent drop. The viewership numbers for the sixth and final game of the nba finals are in and they are atrocious.
As one of the major sports leagues in north america the national basketball association has a long history of partnership with television networks in the us the league signed a contract with dumont in its 8th season 1953 54 marking the first year the nba had a national television broadcaster similar to nfl the lack of television stations led to nbc taking over the rights. The 37 percent decline is in line with the broader trend facing the sports industry since the wave of cancellations and postponements in march. About 76 2 million people were watching tv on the first five nights of the nba finals this year a 9 decline from the same games in 2019.
Game 6 drew at its peak 6 028 million viewers to put that in perspective game 6 of the 2019 nba finals which included a team from canada and did not include lebron james drew 18 34 million viewers.
But ratings had dropped even before the nba took a hiatus in march and have grown since the league resumed play. That 7 6 million viewer slide is almost identical to the. For the 2020 nba finals the ratings dropped to a historic low with one of the games drawing only 5 9 million viewers. But ratings had dropped even before the nba took a hiatus in march and have grown since the league resumed play.