Similar to the regular season, the playoffs were marred by a number of star players missing games due to injuries or COVID. The NBA also introduced a new wrinkle in 2020-21 with a play-in tournament involving the seventh through tenth seeded teams of both conferences. To illustrate the popularity of premium sports with viewers, during the playoffs, games on ESPN or TNT were the top-rated cable network on 37 of the 38 nights. This was down 9% from the pre-pandemic 2019 playoffs but an increase of 35% from last yearвЂ™s playoff games of 3.0 million. NBA Playoffs: Heading into the NBA Finals, the 73-game playoffs on ABC/ESPN/TNT averaged 3.7 million viewers. The 2018-19 regular season started on October 16 and concluded on April 10. The 2019-20 regular season began on October 22, was suspended on March 11, resumed on July 30, ended on August 14, with a play-in game on August 15. For comparative purposes, the 2020-21 NBA regular season started on December 22 and ended on May 16. This was significant during the pandemic when some 2020 NBA postseason competed head-to-head with top-rated NFL games and election news. Some Dates: Television viewing and ratings are seasonal and competitive programs vary throughout the year.

Dallas) and averaged 7.01 million viewers. (The audiences for 20 include out-of-home viewing.) Prior to the NBA Finals, the top-rated game of the season aired on ABC/ESPN primetime on Christmas (Lakers vs. TNT averaged a slightly better 1.22 million viewers, a decline of 7% from last season and -18% from 2018-19. NBA games on ESPN averaged 1.19 million viewers down 10% from 2019-20 and -25% from 2018-19. These games averaged 1.32 million viewers, a decline of 25% compared to the pre-pandemic 2018-19 season (1.75 million). Looking at ratings, there were 168 regular season games (33 were Lakers games) televised across ABC, ESPN and TNT.

Nba regular season start