The deciding game 7 became the most-watched NBA Finals game in six years as the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers on Sunday to claim their first championship.
The game, in which the Thunder won 103-91, thereby winnng the series 4-3, averaged 16.4 million viewers on Disney-owned broadcaster ABC.
This made it the largest audience for a finals game since the 2019 matchup between the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors.
Viewership peaked with 19.3 million viewers from 9:45-10pm Eastern Time across ABC and the ESPN+ streaming service for the league’s first finals game 7 since 2016.
This made up for what was a historically low-rated NBA Finals to that point, with two small-market teams contesting the championship shoot-out series.
Game 1 averaged 8.91 million viewers on ABC, the lowest viewership for an opening finals game, outside of the two Covid-affected seasons.
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By GlobalDataIndeed, none of the first six games reached the 10 million mark, with a viewership high of 9.54 million for game 5.
Overall, the seven-game series averaged 10.3 million viewers, down 9% from last year’s five-game Boston Celtics-Dallas Mavericks series (11.31 million). The overall figure makes it the least-watched finals since the Covid-delayed Milwaukee Bucks-Phoenix Suns series in July 2021 (10.15 million).
Excluding the Covid-delayed finals in 2020 and 2021, meanwhile, the Thunder-Pacers series was the least-watched finals since San Antonio Spurs-Cleveland Cavaliers in 2007 (9.29 million).
On the low finals viewership, Conrad Wiacek, head of analysis at GlobalData Sport, commented: “By not making the finals broadcast a special event, ESPN is devaluing the product and therefore making it less commercially appealing.
“While the next media cycle is locked in, NBA viewership is in decline on traditional platforms and while the regular season interest can fluctuate given the length of the season and the relentless schedule, the NBA Finals typically don't have much competition in terms of broadcast.
“By making the finals seem like 'any other game', sponsors will not want to associate with the NBA, driving down values and, therefore, impacting the long-term commercial health of the league.”
The audience for the 2025 NBA playoffs, overall, across ESPN and ABC – 34 games – averaged 6.1 viewers, up 10% from 2024.
The Thunder won their first NBA title following a dominant season where they finished the regular campaign with a league-best record of 68 wins and only 14 losses.
ABC holds domestic rights to the full NBA Finals series.
