It took a seventh game, but for the second straight year, the NBA Finals averaged its largest audience since the Chicago Bulls’ heyday.
The seven-game Cavaliers/Warriors NBA Finals averaged an 11.4 rating and 20.2 million viewers on ABC, down 2% in ratings but up 1% in viewership from last year’s six-game series between the same teams (11.6, 19.9M) and up 23% and 30%, respectively, from the five-game Spurs/Heat series in 2014 (9.3, 15.5M).
The series, which culminated in Cleveland’s first pro sports championship since 1964, was the most-watched NBA Finals since Bulls/Jazz on NBC in 1998 (29.0M). It was the first finals over that span to average at least 20 million viewers, and just the second non-Jordan series to do so since 1989. It ranks as the tenth-most watched NBA Finals in the past 30 years, the only series in the top ten that did not involve Michael Jordan or the Showtime Lakers. Regardless of sport, it was the most-watched seven-game series since the Red Sox ended their 86-year drought in the 2004 World Series (25.4M).
Beyond the viewership milestones, the series ranks as the third-highest rated NBA Finals since Lakers/Sixers in 2001 (12.1). Last year’s series holds the top spot, followed by Pistons/Lakers in 2004 (11.5).
Cavaliers/Warriors was one of the most unusual finals in recent memory. It was the longest seven-game series in modern NBA history, running 18 days under the NBA’s new rest-conscious schedule. Games aired on unorthodox nights, a Monday, a Wednesday, even a Friday, breaking with the decade-long rhythm of Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. The first six games were decided by double-digits, with the teams trading 30-point routs in Games 2 and 3. The series appeared to be over — in fairness to Stephen A. Smith — after Golden State took a 3-1 lead, which had never before been overcome in the finals.
Through the last of the Warriors’ 88 wins in Game 4, the series was averaging a respectable 10.1 rating and 17.4 million viewers — not bad but well below the previous year’s 11.0 and 18.9 million. It took Cleveland’s unprecedented comeback for the finals to live up to the potential it showed in Game 1, when it delivered the largest audience for an opener since ’98.
It was just ten seasons ago that the NBA Finals averaged a 6.2 rating and 9.3 million viewers for the Spurs’ four-game sweep of the Cavaliers. This year’s finals was the sixth of the past seven to average a double-digit rating, and the fifth to average at least 17 million viewers.
Compared to other sports, the NBA Finals outdrew the three-game College Football Playoff, which averaged an 11.0 and 19.7 million viewers on ESPN. Turner Sports never reported average ratings for the NCAA Final Four (or the NCAA Tournament), but the national championship had a 10.6 and 17.8 million. It also topped last year’s World Series, which averaged an 8.7 and 14.7 million.
Demographic averages for the NBA Finals were not immediately available.
CORRECTION 6/23: This year’s NBA Finals was the third-highest rated since 2001, not the second.
(This year’s numbers from ESPN)
