The NBA, NBC and the fanboys continue to talk about deeply misleading ratings data | Bobby Burack

While OutKick tries to enjoy the NBA conference finals, although all the beatings make that difficult, fans keep asking us to comment on the ratings.

Every other day, it seems, NBC or the NBA releases another graphic thriller.

“The Western Conference Finals averaged 9.4 million viewers across NBC and Peacock, making it the most-watched Western Conference Finals in three-game history,” NBC wrote on X Thursday.

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The network also said “Sunday’s Thunder-Spurs Game 4 brought in a total audience of 10.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched Western Conference Finals Game 4 since 1999.”

At the beginning of this season, the NBA said that the playoffs were at a high level since 1993.

Predictably, blogs and podcasters seized on those statistics as proof that the NBA has regained the popularity it lost over the past decade. According to them, the numbers show that they are old conservatives they were wrong about the league. At this rate, Bill Simmons and Ryen Russillo will once again want OutKick to talk numbers.

Here’s the problem: the talk of ratings this postseason is very misleading.

Take the Thunder-Spurs claim for the most-watched Western Conference finals in 26 years. The conference finals are the first to be broadcast on NBC in 23 years. Every comparable series since aired on cable, either TNT or ESPN.

That distinction is important.

Broadcast television reaches far more homes than cable. In fact, the current Western Conference Finals, featuring two historically small-market franchises that struggle to attract a national audience, average nearly two to three million more viewers than the Eastern Conference Finals featuring the New York Knicks. That gap suggests that among multiple conference finals, especially those without the Knicks, the bump to coverage could be even greater.

Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden drives the ball against New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson during the second half of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals in Cleveland on May 24, 2027. (Sue Ogrocki/AP)

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There is another issue that is rarely acknowledged by the NBA-friendly media. Nielsen measures television audiences differently than it did the last time the NBA aired on NBC. In fact, Nielsen measures audiences differently than last year.

Since September, Nielsen has implemented a new rating system called Big Data + Panel. Industry estimates suggest that the revised approach increases the average audience for live sports by about 10% compared to the previous system.

Then there’s Peacock, whose streaming figures can’t be independently verified.

Simply put, the advertising numbers for NBC and the NBA don’t show that the league is more popular now than at any time since the late 1990s.

Consider the NBA’s claim that the first round was the most watched opening round in 33 years. In addition to changes to Nielsen’s approach and a return to broadcast television, the league also stopped airing first-round games on regional sports networks for the first time.

In years past, fans in major markets like New York and Los Angeles could watch local broadcasts of the Knicks and Lakers instead of national broadcasts. This year, those spectators had no alternative to the venue.

That change alone nearly increased the national statistics. Combined with Nielsen’s adjustment and NBC’s broadcast advantage, these factors likely explain most, if not all, of the reported 20% increase in viewers for the first round.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder reacts after scoring a goal in the second quarter of Game Four of the NBA Western Conference Finals at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, on May 24, 2026. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

To be clear, NBA viewership is a hot topic of conversation right now because the league and its unusually friendly media system insists we do. No other sports league promotes curated ratings data as aggressively as the NBA. Likewise, no fans seem more eager to play “gotcha” with television numbers than online NBA fans.

Maybe they think talking about ratings is detracting from the real product: overshooting, inconsistent performance and a lack of playoff basketball.

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Notably, the Thunder-Spurs series has been a mystery since the Game 1 lead. Since then, every game has been decided by double digits. In the East, the Knicks dispatched the Cavaliers in four games. After a great start, New York has won its last three games by an average of 22 points.

Still, the NBA and its fans have good reason to be optimistic. The Knicks are headed to the Finals for the first time since 1999, which is undeniably bad for television. Victor Wembanyama has once again emerged as a true genius this past season, even if the Spurs still seem to be a step below Oklahoma City.

However, for whatever reason, fans and media people continue to demand that OutKick measure up in the ratings – which, despite all the hype and self-congratulations, is nothing to brag about.