The New York Knicks‘ first NBA title in 53 years delivered the biggest audience for the NBA Finals in 28 years.
Saturday’s deciding fifth game averaged 24.5 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, the third game in a row to draw more than 20 million. The last time the finals drew 20 million-plus viewers over three consecutive contests was in 2016, for the final three games of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ comeback victory over the Golden State Warriors. The telecast was also the most watched game five since the 1998 NBA Finals, which marked Michael Jordan’s last championship with the Chicago Bulls.
The series as a whole delivered 20.6 million viewers, the biggest audience for the NBA Finals since, once again, 1998 — which means it’s also the best showing ever for the finals on ABC. The network took over rights to the NBA’s championship series in 2003. (Nielsen has also made several changes to the way it measures ratings over that time, including adding out of home viewing and a big data component to its sample, both of which have been beneficial to live sports broadcasts.)
Saturday’s telecast peaked with a huge 33 million viewers who watched the closing minutes of the Knicks’ 94-90 win over the San Antonio Spurs. Knicks guard Jalen Brunson was named MVP of the series after scoring 45 points, nearly half of the team’s total, in game five.
The 2026 NBA Finals doubled last year’s average of 10.27 million viewers. The last time the finals averaged 20 million viewers or more was in 2017 (20.38 million for the third of four straight Warriors-Cavs matchups).
The Knicks hailing from the country’s largest media market certainly helped boost numbers for the Finals, but TV ratings for the NBA were up across the board in the first season of a new media rights deal. Regular season games on ABC, ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Prime Video grew by 16 percent year to year vs. ABC, ESPN and TNT Sports last season. The playoffs grew by double digits as well, averaging 5.3 million viewers across all rounds.
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