ESPN said ABC’s telecast of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on June 22 was the most-watched finals game in six years, since 2019.
According to preliminary data from Nielsen, the winner-take-all Game 7 averaged 16,353,000 viewers and peaked with 19,281,000 viewers from 9:45-10 p.m. ET across ABC and ESPN+.
The seven-game series averaged 10,266,000 viewers and delivered the seven most-watched broadcasts on all of television since the first week of May, ESPN reported. The audience for the 2025 NBA playoffs across ESPN and ABC—34 games—averaged 6,118,000 viewers, up 10 percent from 2024.
But other reports indicated the average audience for the seven-game NBA Finals was down from last year, with an average of 10.66 million viewers in 2025 compared to 11.3 million average viewers during the five-game 2024 series between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks.
The final viewership figures from Nielsen will be available on Tuesday, June 24.
