The calendars of the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League often intersect, and right now both leagues are deciding a champion. Through the first game of the NBA Finals and the second game of the NHL Stanley Cup Final, television audiences are clearly deciding to crown the NBA.
No Game 1 of the NBA Finals aired on ABC has ever claimed better ratings than Thursday night’s opener of this year’s Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. According to the NBA, the 13.1 is a 14 percent increase from last year’s Finals match-up of these same two franchises and a 26 percent increase from 2014’s NBA Finals Game 1.
The league also touted the game’s performance in WatchESPN‘s streaming platform. This year’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals drew twice the audience that Game 1 of the NBA Finals in 2015 did. Additionally, the average audience per minute of 347,000 also made the contest the most-streamed NBA game on WatchESPN ever.
Meanwhile, things are on ice for the NHL on a national level. Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and San Jose Sharks received its lowest overnight rating in four years, at 1.9. The broadcast was strong locally, however. The 27.5 rating in the Pittsburgh area is NBC Sports Network’s best-ever for a Penguins game, and the 5.6 rating in the Bay Area is similarly NBCSN’s tops for a Sharks game.
That 1.9 is a significant drop from a similarly poor-performing Game 1 between Pittsburgh and San Jose. Game 1’s 2.8 was down from 2015 Game 1’s 4.2, and also the lowest since 2012.
While not unexpected given the television ratings history of these events, it’s another sign that the NBA is far more successful in marketing its individual athletes than the NHL. Basketball does lend toward that end more easily than hockey, but if the NHL ever hopes to compete, they have to try to figure out a way to make Sidney Crosby and Joe Pavelski household names on the same level as LeBron James and Stephen Curry.
