The Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors weren’t the only winners at this year’s NBA Tipoff. Broadcasting an NBA game for the first time since 2002, NBC and Peacock averaged 5.6 million viewers for both games Tuesday night.
The numbers, based on linear measurements from Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics, were not only an 87% improvement from last year’s NBA Tipoff, which drew 3 million viewers on TNT, but also the largest audience for a doubleheader in more than a decade. No season-opening game has reached such heights since 2012 or, barring the unusual Christmas Day tipoff in 2011, since 2010. And considering the 2010 game included LeBron James’ debut with the Miami Heat, it’s impressive that NBC’s telecast came so close to hitting that record.
The total number of 5.6 million people represents the average number of people watching at any given time during the broadcast. Divided into short segments, Tuesday’s doubleheader reached 7.1 million viewers between 10:45 and 11 p.m. ET, during which the Thunder defeated the Houston Rockets by one point in double overtime. With an average audience of 5.9 million viewers overall, viewership for the Thunder vs. Rockets game was certainly boosted by the fact that it was Kevin Durant’s debut as a Houston player and a showdown with the team where he started his career. The Warriors-Lakers game averaged 5.1 million viewers overall.
In addition, NBC Sports averaged 1 million viewers across Peacock and NBC Sports Digital, the largest non-NFL and non-Olympic syndicated viewership in history.
