The New York Knicks’ first NBA title in 53 years brought in the largest number of viewers for an NBA Finals in 28 years.
Saturday’s deciding Game 5 averaged 24.5 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, the third straight game to draw more than 20 million viewers. The last time the Finals drew more than 20 million viewers over three straight contests was in 2016, in the final three games of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ win over the Golden State Warriors. The telecast was also the fifth most-watched game since the 1998 NBA Finals, which was Michael Jordan’s last championship with the Chicago Bulls.
The series as a whole generated 20.6 million viewers, the most viewers for an NBA Finals since 1998 again — meaning it’s also the highest-grossing showing of the Finals ever on ABC. The network acquired the rights to the NBA Championship Series in 2003. (Nielsen also made several changes to the way it measures ratings during that time, including adding out-of-home viewing and a big data component to its sample, both of which were beneficial for live sports broadcasting.)
Saturday’s telecast peaked with 33 million viewers watching the final 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 5.
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 matchups between the Warriors and Cavs).
The Knicks, hailing from the nation’s largest media market, certainly helped boost their Finals numbers, but the NBA’s TV ratings rose across the board in the first season of the new media rights deal. Regular season games on ABC, ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Prime Video grew 16 percent year over year compared to ABC, ESPN and TNT Sports last season. The playoffs also grew by double digits, averaging 5.3 million viewers across all rounds.
