The most-watched NBA Finals since 1998 capped the most-watched NBA Playoffs since 1998.
The 2026 NBA Playoffs averaged 6.35 million viewers across ESPN/ABC, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video, a figure that includes Adobe Analytics for NBC games — up 34% from last year on ESPN/ABC, TNT and NBA TV (4.74M) and the most-watched postseason since 1998 (7.67M). The previous high over that span was 6.06 million in 2000. (Figures do not include the seven games that aired on Peacock and NBCSN, which were not Nielsen rated.)
Note that Nielsen did not begin including out-of-home viewing in its estimates until 2020, only began doing so in 100 percent of markets a year ago, and is months into a new methodology that integrates its traditional panel with “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes. Those changes will skew historical comparisons, particularly to years before 2020.
The postseason began with the most-watched opening round since 1993 and the most-watched opening two rounds since 1997, before concluding with the most-watched conference final series since 2002 (Spurs-Thunder: 10.8M) and the most-watched NBA Finals since 1998 (Knicks-Spurs: 20.6M).
This year’s postseason was the first of the new, 11-year NBA media rights deal, under which all NBA playoff games were exclusive to national television. Previously, first round games on cable were non-exclusive, either airing side-by-side with local RSN broadcasts (TNT and ESPN) or blacked out entirely in the home markets (NBA TV). Last season, those non-exclusive games accounted for nearly half of playoff inventory (37 of 84).
Nearly half of the NBA playoff games this year — 41 of 85 total — aired on broadcast television between NBC (28) and ABC (13), more than double last year’s 18. That figure is almost certainly a record for any NBA postseason. During NBC’s previous run carrying NBA games from 1990-2002, the most playoff games to air on broadcast television were 37 in 2000.
Last season, the overwhelming majority of playoff games aired on linear cable (72) between ESPN, TNT and NBA TV. This year, that figure dropped to 23 total between ESPN (16) and NBCSN, which simulcast the seven games that aired primarily on Peacock. Combined with the 21 streaming-exclusive games that aired on Prime Video, there were only 44 total playoff games that required a subscription to view, the fewest since 2002 (36).
ABC had the five most-watched games of the playoffs with the NBA Finals, but NBC generated most of the top audiences this year — eight out of the top 13, 16 of the top 26, and 19 of the top 32. A whopping 28 of the 32 most-watched playoff games aired on broadcast television, with the lone exceptions being the three Knicks-Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals games on ESPN and Cavaliers-Pistons Game 7 on Prime Video in the second round.
Across the entire season — including All-Star Weekend and Christmas Day — 21 of the 24 most-watched NBA telecasts aired on broadcast television, with 14 of those on NBC.
Most-watched NBA games, 2025-26 season
After just one playoff game last year hit the ten million mark — Game 7 of the Finals — 11 did so this postseason. That includes all five games of the NBA Finals on ABC, five of the seven Spurs-Thunder Western Conference Finals games on NBC, and Sixers-Celtics Game 7 in the first round, which aired on NBC following the Kentucky Derby.
This year’s postseason included three games with more than 20 million viewers — tied with 2016 as the most in a single playoffs since 1998 — including the league’s largest audience since Game 7 of the 2016 Finals, 24.54 million for the Knicks’ clinching Game 5 win over the Spurs.
After the NBA went five years without a single game hitting the 14 million mark, six games this postseason topped 15 million — the five Finals games and Spurs-Thunder Game 7 in the West Finals (15.9M).
While the Knicks finished as the story of the postseason, the Spurs were the biggest draw throughout, playing in 12 of the 13 most-watched playoff games. Notably, none of the 20 most-watched featured the Lakers — who topped out at 22nd for their second round opener against the Thunder. Last season, the Lakers played only five total playoff games and still placed one in the top ten.
Across all NBA telecasts this season, none of the top 20 included the Lakers or Warriors. Last season, the teams’ head-to-head meeting on Christmas night ranked in the top ten.
The increase for the NBA Playoffs was on par with that of the regular season, which increased 35% across all networks (16% excluding NBA TV).
