ESPN's & ABC's Television & Streaming Audience Up for 2017 NBA Playoffs

ABC's broadcast of the Golden State Warriors' Game 1 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday generated a total live audience (television + streaming) of 6,624,000 average viewers, making it ABC's most-watched NBA Playoffs opening weekend game ever, according to Nielsen. It was up 22 percent from the corresponding game last year (Cleveland-Detroit Game 1), which averaged 5,436,000 total live viewers.

Golden State-Portland Game 1 peaked with 9,139,000 average viewers from 5:45-6 p.m. ET. On television, the game drew 6,519,000 average viewers (p2+) with an additional average minute streaming audience of 105,400 viewers.

Through five games, viewership for the 2017 NBA Playoffs on ESPN and ABC is up eight percent, averaging 3,957,000 total live viewers, compared to 3,662,000 last year. On television, the five games averaged 3,865,000 viewers, up eight percent from 3,589,000 viewers last season. It was also ESPN's most-streamed NBA Playoffs opening weekend ever, with an average minute audience of 91,800 viewers, 303,900 average unique viewers and 71,616,500 total minutes streamed.

More highlights:

• ESPN's opening weekend tripleheader averaged a total live audience of 2,976,000 average viewers, up 11 percent from 2,676,000 viewers last year;
• ABC's two opening weekend games averaged a total live audience of 5,382,000 average viewers, up five percent from 5,137,000 viewers last year.

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