As the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) seasons approach their conclusion, playoff viewership for both has hit high numbers.
The NBA has been a major winner across its playoffs, with strong viewership across all three national broadcast partners that ha culminated in a conference final opener that was the most-watched in over a decade.
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Game one of the Western Conference Finals (WCF) series between the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder averaged 9.16 million viewers across the NBC linear channel and the Peacock streaming service.
This was the largest ever audience for a WCF opener, and the most-watched Conference Finals opener in general since the Eastern Conference Finals (ECF) matchup between the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls in 2011.
The rivalry between the Thunder and the Spurs has been brewing across the 2025-26 campaign, and the prospect of a playoff series between the two will have been attractive for broadcasters, with NBC the big winner in game one.
Speaking on the high interest in the series, GlobalData Sport lead analyst Conrad Wiacek commented: "The NBA WCF finals between the San Antonio Spurs and them is proving to must see, as it is likely the first installment of a dynasty-defining slug fest between the two teams who seem poised to dominate the Western Conference, if not the league, for the next 5 years at least.
"With both teams having a genuine superstar in Victor Wembanyama and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, this will draw in eyeballs. Additionally, with the Thunder looking to repeat and the Spurs looking like the only team that has a realistic chance of stopping them, many see this WCF as a de facto NBA Finals, so interest is high."
High viewership has been the trend across the 2025-26 NBA season, the first of a new media rights cycle, and the playoffs have been no exception.
NBCUniversal-owned networks have averaged 5.8 million per game through 21 games of the playoffs, with Disney-owned ESPN and ABC also strong at 4.2 million, and streaming-only Prime Video averaging 3.8 million.
The NHL playoffs have also performed well thus far in what is a major boost for a league that has struggled to attract broadcast interest in recent years.
Game seven of the second round series between the Buffalo Sabres and the Montreal Canadiens attracted a 2.96 million average on ESPN, the most-watched second round game on any network since 2020.
The second round as a whole averaged 1.9 million per game on ESPN/ABC and the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned TNT Sports, an uplift of 55% on the 2024-25 campaign, illustrating how poor such viewership has slumped in recent years.
On this, Wiacek said: "In the NHL, something different is happening. With the last few years being defined by the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers, there is an opportunity for a 'new' dynasty to rise. Interest will also be focused on the Montreal Canadiens, the only existing NHL club to predate the founding of the NHL, and one of the 'original six'. While they are the most successful team in NHL historically, this is their first conference finals in 5 years, and as such, the run is generating huge interest in Canada."
Indeed, combining US and Canadian viewership, the game seven win for the Canadiens over the Sabres averaged 8 million.
