When the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat became the official match-up for this year sNBAFinals, some people worried that the games wouldn t get many viewers.
Neither team is the most well-known, which had some questioning if people would tune in.
Apparently, those worries were unnecessary because fans of all types are watching the Finals.
Via NBACentral, 11.58 million people tuned in to Game 1 of the Finals between the Nuggets and Heat.
That is a bit less than last year s Game 1 between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics but it eclipses 2021 s Game 1 between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns and is much better than 2020 s Game 1 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Heat.
NBA finals Game 1 Total TV viewership numbers in the last 4 Finals:
2020 Lakers vs Miami 7.69 million
2021 Bucks vs Suns 8.70 Million
2022 Dubs vs Celtics 11.90 million
2023 Denver vs Miami 11.58 million(h/t @NikolaJokicJPN ) pic.twitter.com/t9oxFAKE3i
NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) June 6, 2023
This goes to show that people are very much paying attention to the Finals and that shouldn t be too surprising given the playoffs so far.
The postseason has been a successful one for the NBA, with millions of people watching various series.
Both ESPN and TNT have scored record numbers as some of the biggest teams in the league have squared off, such as the Warriors, Lakers, New York Knicks, and others.
This is clearly very good news for the NBA as they are trying to accumulate more and more viewers as they contemplate and plot their path forward in the ever-changing television landscape.
If the series remains neck-and-neck then there is a good chance that viewership numbers will only raise.
That means that the 2023 Finals could be more successful than last year s, which is always the goal for the league.
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