The seventh game of the NBA Finals, where the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers with a score of 103-91, became the most-watched finals game in the last six years.
According to preliminary data from Nielsen, Sunday night’s match averaged 16.53 million viewers on ABC and ESPN+. The audience peaked at 19.28 million during the second half of the game (between 9:45 and 10 p.m. ET).
It’s the first time since the Toronto Raptors secured their title in Game 6 against the Golden State Warriors in 2019 (18.34 million) that the Finals have surpassed 16 million viewers. The last Game 7, in which the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated Golden State in 2016, averaged 31.02 million.
The seven-game series averaged 10.27 million viewers, a figure lower than the 11.31 million averaged by the Boston Celtics’ victory over the Dallas Mavericks in five games last year.
The seven matches were the most-watched television broadcasts since the first week of May.
ESPN and ABC averaged 6.12 million viewers across the 34 games they broadcast during the playoffs, representing a 10% increase compared to the previous year.
