The TV audience for the 2025 NBA Finals has fallen off considerably over the first two games — which is no surprise given the relatively small home markets of the two competing teams. Opposite game two of the Finals, the Tony Awards posted multi-year highs, and CNN’s live airing of the Broadway play Good Night, and Good Luck on Saturday also drew a sizable audience.
Through the first two games between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, the NBA Finals is averaging about 8.84 million viewers on ABC — 8.91 for the June 5 opener and 8.76 million for Sunday’s second game. That’s down about 24 percent from the first two games last year, which averaged 11.65 million viewers (and involved two big-market teams, the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks).
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The game one figure is the smallest on record for the Finals’ normal window in late May and early June (though it does rank ahead of the openers of the COVID-affected 2020 and 2021 series, which started later in the year). Game two is the smallest since 2007 (also excluding 2020). Indianapolis and Oklahoma City are two of the seven smallest TV markets where NBA teams play.
Other ratings notes:
• The Tony Awards scored its biggest total audience since 2019 with 5.1 million viewers, a 44 percent jump over the 3.53 million who watched the 2024 ceremony. The Broadway honors also saw huge increases in all key demographics, with adults 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 doubling from a year ago. All three demos hit their highest marks since the 2018 Tonys.
• Good Night, and Good Luck, starring George Clooney as CBS News correspondent Edward R. Murrow, averaged 2.01 million on-air viewers on CNN Saturday night. The play is an adaptation of the 2005 movie of the same name, which starred David Stathairn as Murrow (Clooney co-wrote both the film and play and directed the movie). Worldwide, CNN says the telecast drew in more than 7 million viewers, including streaming on Max and CNN.com. The play’s live audience for its three-month Broadway run (including previews) was about 155,000.
• ESPN hauled in a ratings record with the final game of the Women’s College World Series. Texas’ 10-4 victory over Texas Tech in the finale of the three-game series drew 2.4 million viewers Friday, up 20 percent year to year and edging the previous high of 2.33 million, set in 2007.