Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, which saw the Oklahoma City Thunder defeat their opponents 103-91 to secure their first championship since the 1979 Seattle SuperSonics era, drew a significant audience.1 On ABC and ESPN+, the game averaged 16.353 million viewers, with a peak of 19.281 million in the quarter-hour before 10 p.m. ET.2
This made Game 7 the most-watched NBA Finals game since Game 6 of the 2019 Finals between Golden State and Toronto, which had 18.3 million viewers.3
However, the 2025 NBA Finals as a whole averaged 10.266 million viewers, a decrease from the 11.3 million average of last year’s five-game series between Boston and Dallas.4 This decline might be attributed to market size, as Indianapolis is the 25th-largest media market compared to Oklahoma City at 47th.5
Despite the Finals viewership dip, the entire 2025 NBA Playoffs, broadcast on ESPN and ABC, saw an average of 6.118 million viewers across 34 games. This represents a 10 percent increase from the previous year’s playoff viewership.
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