Lakers-Heat Game 1 was most-viewed program of the night, but down big from Raptors-Warriors Game 1 NBAE/Getty Images
ABC averaged 7.41 million viewers for the Lakers' 116-98 win over the Heat in Game 1 on Wednesday night, marking the least-watched NBA Finals game since ABC/ESPN acquired media rights to the league prior to the '02-03 season. The game also may be the lowest audience for any Finals game dating back to '94 (when viewership records began), but that could not be confirmed by presstime. The previous low was Game 2 of the '03 Spurs-Nets finals, which averaged 8.06 million viewers. Last year, in late May on a normal schedule, Game 1 of Raptors-Warriors averaged 13.89 million viewers. However, Lakers-Heat Game 1 was the most-viewed program of the night on TV, marking the 71st consecutive time that an NBA Finals game has won the night. Beyond the shift due to COVID-19, ABC also had competition from the MLB Wild Card round. Also, compared to the night of Game 1 in '19, there were 9.1 million fewer U.S. homes watching any sort of TV last night (Austin Karp, SBJ Unpacks).
STEEP DROP: In Miami, Barry Jackson writes the percentage of South Florida homes tuning in for Game 1 "plunged from the last time the Heat was in the NBA Finals." For Wednesday’s game, 12.9% of Miami-Ft. Lauderdale homes with TV sets "watched, compared with 30.5 percent for Game 1 of the Heat's most recent finals appearance" in '14. Jackson: "This much is clear: Heat popularity, at least as reflected in TV viewership, was much higher" during the LeBron James-Dwyane Wade-Chris Bosh era. It "will be interesting to see how Game 3 of the Finals fares" against the 49ers-Eagles "SNF" game this week. NBA playoff games "have been annihilated in six direct competitions with NFL regular-season games during the past three weeks" (MIAMI HERALD, 10/2).
