Adam Silver calls NBA ratings for opening weekend of playoffs ‘fantastic’

 NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday that television ratings from the opening weekend of the playoffs were the best the league has seen in about a quarter-century.

Speaking at the CAA World Congress of Sports presented by the Sports Business Journal on an array of topics, Silver seemed particularly pleased with the ratings from the first eight games — four on Saturday, four more on Sunday.

“Highest rated opening weekend in 25 years ... so the numbers are fantastic,” Silver said before the NBA released the official ratings.

The league said the eight games averaged 4.4 million viewers, the highest average in 25 years and a 17% increase over the opening weekend of last season’s playoffs.

ESPN said it was the most-watched opening weekend ever on its platforms, with nearly 6.7 million people on average watching Sunday’s Boston-Orlando game on ABC and a peak of just over 8 million for that game.

Silver said what really excites him moving to a digital world is the ability to reach fans in a variety of ways.

“I say think of the ManningCast but on steroids,” Silver said, referencing the popular platform brothers Peyton and Eli Manning host simultaneous to some NFL broadcasts. “Essentially unlimited numbers of alternative channels.”

The NBA acknowledged that ratings got off to a slow start this season, which it attributed in part to a World Series going on between two huge media markets — New York and Los Angeles — and additional attention being placed on the presidential election.

The numbers ticked upward throughout the season, and Silver recently said the league was down only about 2% year-over-year going into the final weeks of the regular season.