The Golden State Warriors won the NBA championship in front of 16,862,000 viewers. That’s when Game 6 peaked on Thursday night at 11:15p.m. The game overall averaged 13,992,000 viewers which marked a 10% bump from last year’s Game 6. It wasn’t the only good sign for ABC in their NBA Finals coverage.
Viewership for the 2022 NBA Finals on ABC was up 22 percent from last year. The six-game series averaged 12,402,000 viewers, which made it the most-watched NBA Finals in three years.
ABC enjoyed the highest share they had gotten for the NBA Finals since 2017. At an average of a 20.0 share, one in five viewers watching television on game nights were tuned into the NBA Finals on ABC.
The six NBA Finals game broadcasts on ABC now rank as the six most-watched programs on television for June 2022.
In a look at the NBA Finals ratings versus it’s previous traditional window, the news isn’t as good. The 2019 NBA Finals, which were the last NBA Finals to take place in its traditional window, averaged 15.14 million viewers per game.
The average audience for the NBA Finals has trended downward since peaking at 20.38 million in 2017. The last time the finals averaged less than 14 million was 2007 when San Antonio swept the Cleveland Cavaliers.
