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Lakers-Nuggets Game 1 most-watched conference finals opener in 5 years, averaged 7.36 million viewers

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James Foglio
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James Foglio Sports Editor

James is a Basketball Insiders contributor. He earned his bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. James enjoys watching sports and helping gamblers win money.

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Sports Editor

Updated18 May 2023

Lakers-Nuggets Game 1 most-watched conference finals opener in 5 years, averaged 7.36 million viewers

Tuesday night’s Lakers-Nuggets matchup in Game 1 of the 2023 Western Conference Finals averaged 7.36 million viewers across ESPN, making it the most-watched conference finals opener in five years.

Of the 7.36 million viewers, about 7.13 million watched on ESPN and 234,000 viewed the game on ESPN2. That’s a 13% increase in viewership from the Mavericks-Warriors series on TNT last year (6.52 million).

Game 1 was the most-watched conference finals opener since Warriors-Rockets on TNT in 2018 (8.9 million). Factoring in Spanish-language coverage on ESPN Deportes (100,000), the game averaged 7.46 million viewers.

Referring to a couple of NBA betting sites, the Lakers have third-shortest odds to win the championship. A few sportsbooks are giving the Boston Celtics and Nuggets better odds.

Additionally, the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery on ESPN’s broadcast drew the fifth-largest audience over the last 20 years. An estimated 3.24 million viewers tuned in to watch this year’s event. The San Antonio Spurs won the first overall selection. They are projected to draft top prospect Victor Wembanyama.

Other most-watched NBA Draft Lottery telecasts over the last 20 years include ABC’s in 2003 with 6 million viewers (LeBron James), ESPN’s in 2019 with 4.4 million viewers (Zion Williamson), ESPN’s in 2015 with 3.6 million viewers (Karl-Anthony Towns), and ESPN’s in 2014 with 3.4 million viewers (Andrew Wiggins).

Lakers-Nuggets Game 1 of the 2023 Western Conference Finals averaged 7.36 million viewers across ESPN, YouTube TV’s TNT stream crashed in Heat-Celtics ECF Game 1?

ESPN drew the largest NBA Draft Lottery audience since 2019, when Zion Williamson was the projected No. 1 pick. About 4.43 million viewers tuned in to watch the draft lottery four years ago. Compared to last year’s event, this year’s draft lottery saw a 2.15 million-viewership increase.

While the NBA ratings have not yet been released for Game 1 of the Heat-Celtics 2023 Eastern Conference Finals series, statisticians are expecting lower numbers. YouTube TV users experienced technical difficulties while trying to watch the final minutes of the game. At least Lakers fans got to watch how their team lost.

YouTube TV viewers lost the feed of the matchup for almost the final five minutes late in the fourth quarter. Streamers were forced to watch a continuous loop of ads for the remake of the classic movie “The Little Mermaid.”

Halfway through “The Little Mermaid” trailer, the feed buffered and would not allow viewers to skip the trailer. A portion of the commercial would play on a loop, then restart again.

YouTube TV’s TNT steam was the only TNT broadcast on a streaming network experiencing this issue. TNT with DirecTV Stream, Hulu + Live TV, and Sling TV were fine, per sources.

Game 2 between the Lakers and Nuggets will air Thursday night on ESPN at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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