For the third straight game, the NBA Finals earned its largest audience in at least 14 years.
Game 3 of the Warriors/Cavaliers NBA Finals earned an 11.1 final rating and 18.8 million viewers on ABC Tuesday night, up 23% in ratings and 27% in viewership from Spurs/Heat last year (9.0, 14.8M) and up 31% and 34%, respectively, from Heat/Spurs in 2013 (8.5, 14.0M). It peaked with a 13.8 rating and 23.5 million viewers from 11:30-11:45 PM ET.
The Cavaliers’ win ranks as the highest rated and most-watched Game 3 of the NBA Finals since Lakers/Sixers on NBC in 2001 (12.7, 20.3M). All three games of the series have hit at least a 14-year high in both measures, with Game 2’s viewership the highest since 1998. It also ranks as the eighth-highest rated and ninth-most watched NBA Finals game since the event returned to ABC in 2003, and third and fourth, respectively, when clinching games are excluded.
Game 3 was the highest rated of the series thus far, but earned a smaller audience than Game 2 (19.2M). That is not unusual, as Sunday games tend to attract more viewers per household than those on weeknights.
Among adults 18-49, the game drew a 7.3 rating — up 24% from last year (5.9), up 26% from 2013 (5.8), and the top Game 3 rating in the demo since at least 2002. It also had a 7.2 among adults 18-34, up 22% from last year (5.9) and up 20% from 2013 (6.0).
The Cavaliers/Warriors series is now averaging a 10.8 rating and 18.5 million viewers, up 20% in ratings and 24% in viewership from last year (9.0, 14.9M), up 26% and 29%, respectively, from 2013 (8.6, 14.3M), and the highest three-game average for the event since Lakers/Sixers in 2001.
(Tue. numbers from ESPN Media Zone, with additional info from TV Media Insights)
