2023 NBA Finals: Local & National TV Recap

National TV Viewership

The series was broadcast on ABC and earned double digit ratings for each of the five games. The highest average live household rating, 12.7, was recorded during game two, the only game in which the Miami Heat arose victorious. Despite this second game earning the highest ratings of the series, game five fell just short earning a live household rating of 12.5.

In turn, the series also recorded impressive average audiences. Despite this number of households fluctuating throughout the telecast’s duration, viewership typically peaked at the end of the game. As we saw with rating, game two also recorded the largest average audience, pulling in an average 12.3 million households nationwide.

National Viewership: By Age Groups

Despite the series seeing strong viewership nationwide, households with certain age groups tended to display stronger viewing. Households containing viewers ages 18-34 tended to perform the best, with the highest ratings of the entire series being recorded by this group in game two - earning an average household rating of 14.2.

Households containing viewers ages 35-54 performed just behind the 18-34 group, while households containing viewers aged 55+ earned the lowest ratings. The lowest ratings of the series were recorded by this demographic during game 4, where they earned an average live household rating of 10.0.

Local Viewership: Miami, FL & Denver-Aurora, CO

Despite the series earning strong, double-digit ratings nationwide, it is no surprise that the cities of the two championship contenders earned much stronger ratings in their local markets. Throughout the series Denver-Aurora, CO earned higher ratings than Miami, FL. The five-game series earned an average live household rating of 32.0 in Denver, CO, while in Miami, FL the series pulled in an average rating of 23.3.

Ratings peaked for the Denver market in game five - the game in which they clinched their first ever NBA title. During this telecast on KMGH (ABC) of Denver-Aurora, CO, viewers earned a live household rating of 36.2 – roughly 14.2 points higher than the 22.0 earned on WPLG (ABC) of Miami, FL for the same game. Miami, FL recorded the lowest ratings of the series during game four, where the market earned a 21.3 live household rating – still nearly twice as high as the national average.

Metric Definitions

Average Audience – Average number of TVs tuned to an entity throughout the selected time frame
Rating – The percentage of the household universe that viewed the classification (network, telecast, ad, etc.). Calculated by dividing AA by the total TV households in the selected market(s)