And suddenly, the unexpected happened… The NBA’s television ratings for the opening weekend of the playoffs have been the best the league has seen in 25 years! Commissioner Adam Silver announced this on Tuesday, calling the news “fantastic,” and looking forward to the rest of the postseason.
While speaking on a variety of topics at the CAA World Congress of Sports, which is presented by the Sports Business Journal, the NBA executive had a special grin on his face. He had something to say that he’d been waiting for ever since he started as commissioner over a decade ago.
Silver was pleased to share how pleased he was with the rating for the first eight matches of the playoffs, calling them the best audience turnouts in about a quarter century. These games came during the Easter holidays, four on Saturday and four more on Sunday.
Adam Silver says ratings picked up in the 2nd half
“I think you saw tremendous competition around the league…healthy stars, a trade that attracted a lot of attention. A bunch of things happened in the league and that generated a lot of interest.”
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 17, 2025
“Highest-rated opening weekend in 25 years … so the numbers are fantastic,” Adam said before the league released the official ratings, which show how these eight contests averaged 4.4 million viewers, which are a 17% increase over last season’s opening to the postseason.
ESPN then confirmed this news by revealing how it was the most-watched opening weekend ever on their platform, as an average of almost 6.7 million people tuned in to watch the Orlando-Boston clash on Sunday, which then peaked a bit over 8 million.
Silver admitted that he felt very excited to see in real time how moving to the digital world will be able to reach more fans in different ways. “I say think of the ManningCast but on steroids,” he said yesterday. “Essentially unlimited numbers of alternative channels.”
Even though the league had recognized how ratings went through a slot start at the start of this 2024-25 campaign, things slowly started to pick about throughout the year. The executive explained how the World Series and the presidential election stole the show during the season start.
