Finals Game 7 is Most-Watched NBA Game Since 2019

[bkkrh]

Well, what happened? The most disliked franchise in modern history that nobody cares about with a foreign MVP versus the team with the most overrated player in the league. Both small markets.

Is it possible that normal people just want to watch an exciting Basketball game?

[Bologna Smasher]

Really makes me wonder what the total numbers would look like if streaming services and illegal streams could somehow be counted. This was how pretty much everyone I know watched the playoffs and the finals this year. I can imagine what the numbers look like across the board.

[dockingsched]

The fact an nba finals game 7 is only the most watched since 2019, the last year before covid, is a low-mark not an high-mark imo.

Look at the game 7s since 2000, one of them stands out

2016 Cavs vs. Warriors
HH Rating 15.8
Average Viewers 31.02 M

2010 Celtics vs. Lakers
HH Rating 15.6
Average Viewers 28.2 M

2013 Spurs vs. Heat
HH Rating 15.3
Average Viewers 26.3 M

2025 Thunder vs. Pacers
HH Rating 9.3
Average Viewers 16.35 M

[MrGoat]

Well it was the first Finals game 7 in nine years, it would have been a problem if people wouldn't tune in to that game. You don't see an outright championship game in the NBA all that often. Unfortunately, the Haliburton injury made it kind of a dud

[bkkrh]

The fact an nba finals game 7 is only the most watched since 2019, the last year before covid, is a low-mark not an high-mark imo.

Look at the game 7s since 2000, one of them stands out

2016 Cavs vs. Warriors
HH Rating 15.8
Average Viewers 31.02 M

2010 Celtics vs. Lakers
HH Rating 15.6
Average Viewers 28.2 M

2013 Spurs vs. Heat
HH Rating 15.3
Average Viewers 26.3 M

2025 Thunder vs. Pacers
HH Rating 9.3
Average Viewers 16.35 M

Well I could also look at it from the perspective that 16.35 is not even that far from the 2019 mark of 18.34, while last season no finals game got more than 12.31 Million viewers. Or that it's a better number than the most watched game of quite a few finals series with bigger names, including a few Lakers finals, Lebron's first finals and Shaq's finals with Orlando and Miami.

[dockingsched]

The fact an nba finals game 7 is only the most watched since 2019, the last year before covid, is a low-mark not an high-mark imo.

Look at the game 7s since 2000, one of them stands out

2016 Cavs vs. Warriors
HH Rating 15.8
Average Viewers 31.02 M

2010 Celtics vs. Lakers
HH Rating 15.6
Average Viewers 28.2 M

2013 Spurs vs. Heat
HH Rating 15.3
Average Viewers 26.3 M

2025 Thunder vs. Pacers
HH Rating 9.3
Average Viewers 16.35 M

Well I could also look at it from the perspective that 16.35 is not even that far from the 2019 mark of 18.34, while last season no finals game got more than 12.31 Million viewers. Or that it's a better number than the most watched game of quite a few finals series with bigger names, including a few Lakers finals, Lebron's first finals and Shaq's finals with Orlando and Miami.

ChatGPT puts some good context to around the ratings for this game 7:

- Lowest Game 7 rating in the Nielsen people-meter era (since 1988).
- Significantly lower than previous Game 7s like 2010 and 2016.
- Despite being a Game 7, it drew fewer viewers than several non-Game 7 Finals games in past years.
- Viewership was strong compared to recent NBA ratings overall, but not by historical Game 7 standards.
⸻
This makes it the least-watched and lowest-rated NBA Finals Game 7 on record.

[RaptorPride]

Really makes me wonder what the total numbers would look like if streaming services and illegal streams could somehow be counted. This was how pretty much everyone I know watched the playoffs and the finals this year. I can imagine what the numbers look like across the board.

I been using free online streams since 2009 imagine all the others like me. NBA has to offer something better to get people to buy league pass, no more blackouts and a live chat for all the fans while watching the game. Maybe have some NBA personal also in the chat posting stuff once in a while or a live Q&A during games.

[bkkrh]

The fact an nba finals game 7 is only the most watched since 2019, the last year before covid, is a low-mark not an high-mark imo.

Look at the game 7s since 2000, one of them stands out

2016 Cavs vs. Warriors
HH Rating 15.8
Average Viewers 31.02 M

2010 Celtics vs. Lakers
HH Rating 15.6
Average Viewers 28.2 M

2013 Spurs vs. Heat
HH Rating 15.3
Average Viewers 26.3 M

2025 Thunder vs. Pacers
HH Rating 9.3
Average Viewers 16.35 M

Well I could also look at it from the perspective that 16.35 is not even that far from the 2019 mark of 18.34, while last season no finals game got more than 12.31 Million viewers. Or that it's a better number than the most watched game of quite a few finals series with bigger names, including a few Lakers finals, Lebron's first finals and Shaq's finals with Orlando and Miami.

ChatGPT puts some good context to around the ratings for this game 7:

- Lowest Game 7 rating in the Nielsen people-meter era (since 1988).
- Significantly lower than previous Game 7s like 2010 and 2016.
- Despite being a Game 7, it drew fewer viewers than several non-Game 7 Finals games in past years.
- Viewership was strong compared to recent NBA ratings overall, but not by historical Game 7 standards.
⸻
This makes it the least-watched and lowest-rated NBA Finals Game 7 on record.

Sounds bad at first, sounds a lot better if you consider that besides this one there were only 6 other game 7s since 1988.

These are: 1988 Lakers (Magic & Kareem) - Pistons, 1994 Rockets - Knicks (16.9 Million viewers, so about 500k more), 2005 San Antonio - Pistons, 2010 Lakers (Kobe) - Celtics (KG, Pierce, Allen), 2013 Heatles - San Antonio, 2016 Cavs (Lebron, Kyrie) -Warriors (Curry)

So yeah, besides 2005 where it was "only" Tim Duncan, every other finals series with a game 7 either included at least one of the biggest and well known franchises and/or at least one of the most popular and well known players in the history of the league.

[SportsGuru08]

The fact an nba finals game 7 is only the most watched since 2019, the last year before covid, is a low-mark not an high-mark imo.

Look at the game 7s since 2000, one of them stands out

2016 Cavs vs. Warriors
HH Rating 15.8
Average Viewers 31.02 M

2010 Celtics vs. Lakers
HH Rating 15.6
Average Viewers 28.2 M

2013 Spurs vs. Heat
HH Rating 15.3
Average Viewers 26.3 M

2025 Thunder vs. Pacers
HH Rating 9.3
Average Viewers 16.35 M

What were the numbers for Spurs/Pistons in '05?

[JujitsuFlip]

I think it's wild it peaked at 20 million viewers and the Super Bowl peaked at like 127 million. Just a huge difference.

[rand]

Well I could also look at it from the perspective that 16.35 is not even that far from the 2019 mark of 18.34, while last season no finals game got more than 12.31 Million viewers. Or that it's a better number than the most watched game of quite a few finals series with bigger names, including a few Lakers finals, Lebron's first finals and Shaq's finals with Orlando and Miami.

Game 7s always get a huge bump in viewership over the average of a Finals, usually 50% or more. So the fact that Game 7 of 2025 was only 12% less viewed than Game 6 of 2019 is no endorsement of your idea that attention for this Finals wasn't so poor as previously thought.

Your use of the Game 7 viewership this season to compare with the average viewership of last season's Finals is a similarly invalid comparison of apples to oranges. You should be comparing average viewership. This season's Finals averaged 10.3M viewers, last season's 11.3M and last season didn't even have a Game 7 to boost its average.

If Game 7 is discounted, this season's average drops to 9.2M, a drop in viewership of 19% vs last season -- despite the fact that Games 1-6 of 2025 were much more competitive than the average Finals game last year. This is the real accurate picture of how disinterested the public was in this season's Finals match-up. Before Game 7 pushed the average up a little bit, by average viewership it was the least watched Finals in recorded history not counting the bubble.

You're obviously not dumb, you must know how biased your take is here and I really don't understand why you and some others feel a need to deny that a Finals match-up between two of the league's small markets with no players who are real household names in America would fail to excite the public.

[maxpower8888]

Why does it matter so much? Would you stop watching NBA if you knew other people stopped watching?

TV ratings are going down across the board, and they'll continue to do so. Cable is to streaming what landlines are to mobile phones.

[jkvonny]

The fact an nba finals game 7 is only the most watched since 2019, the last year before covid, is a low-mark not an high-mark imo.

Look at the game 7s since 2000, one of them stands out

2016 Cavs vs. Warriors
HH Rating 15.8
Average Viewers 31.02 M

2010 Celtics vs. Lakers
HH Rating 15.6
Average Viewers 28.2 M

2013 Spurs vs. Heat
HH Rating 15.3
Average Viewers 26.3 M

2025 Thunder vs. Pacers
HH Rating 9.3
Average Viewers 16.35 M

What were the numbers for Spurs/Pistons in '05?

2005 Spurs vs Pistons
HH Rating 7.6
Average Viewers 11.5 M

[rand]

Why does it matter so much? Would you stop watching NBA if you knew other people stopped watching?

TV ratings are going down across the board, and they'll continue to do so. Cable is to streaming what landlines are to mobile phones.

Yeah, I don't really care whether other people watch. I enjoyed the 2003 Finals and the fact that it was an epic ratings embarrassment for the NBA was irrelevant to my enjoyment.

Cord-cutting is definitely a factor in declining TV ratings but I think a bigger factor is the enormously increased diversification of entertainment options. During the Shaq-Kobe threepeat years my cable TV package got me like 45 channels with maybe 25% being pure junk like the QVC Shopping Network or channels in languages I don't understand. Now there's a whole menu of streaming services which together offer a countless number of programs on demand for me to choose from.

There's just way, way, way more competition for video programming which is why despite the NBA's declining TV ratings, their television rights have continued to fetch insane sums. Any video program which can get 9 million live viewers in the US alone is extremely valuable.

[rand]

The fact an nba finals game 7 is only the most watched since 2019, the last year before covid, is a low-mark not an high-mark imo.

Look at the game 7s since 2000, one of them stands out

2016 Cavs vs. Warriors
HH Rating 15.8
Average Viewers 31.02 M

2010 Celtics vs. Lakers
HH Rating 15.6
Average Viewers 28.2 M

2013 Spurs vs. Heat
HH Rating 15.3
Average Viewers 26.3 M

2025 Thunder vs. Pacers
HH Rating 9.3
Average Viewers 16.35 M

What were the numbers for Spurs/Pistons in '05?

2005 Spurs vs Pistons
HH Rating 7.6
Average Viewers 11.5 M

I think you pulled the wrong numbers, jkvonny.

For Game 7 of the 2005 Finals, the HH Rating was 11.9, the average viewers was 19.0M

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Finals_television_ratings

[MoneyTalks41890]

Given the shift away from cable I think this is a really good sign.

And Silver made the best point about all this. Historical comps don’t matter as much as comparing to other current options, since that’s what advertisers are choosing between.

[dhsilv2]

The fact an nba finals game 7 is only the most watched since 2019, the last year before covid, is a low-mark not an high-mark imo.

I mean...that's a bit more nuanced. On the one hand, it was on ABC which technically people can get for free. But millions of people really only watch even local channels through cable or they move to pirated streams as another poster pointed out.

2019 there were 84.4 million households with cable. In 2025 we're down to 54.3 million that's a 35% reduction.

[dhsilv2]

The fact an nba finals game 7 is only the most watched since 2019, the last year before covid, is a low-mark not an high-mark imo.

Look at the game 7s since 2000, one of them stands out

2016 Cavs vs. Warriors
HH Rating 15.8
Average Viewers 31.02 M

2010 Celtics vs. Lakers
HH Rating 15.6
Average Viewers 28.2 M

2013 Spurs vs. Heat
HH Rating 15.3
Average Viewers 26.3 M

2025 Thunder vs. Pacers
HH Rating 9.3
Average Viewers 16.35 M

Well I could also look at it from the perspective that 16.35 is not even that far from the 2019 mark of 18.34, while last season no finals game got more than 12.31 Million viewers. Or that it's a better number than the most watched game of quite a few finals series with bigger names, including a few Lakers finals, Lebron's first finals and Shaq's finals with Orlando and Miami.

ChatGPT puts some good context to around the ratings for this game 7:

- Lowest Game 7 rating in the Nielsen people-meter era (since 1988).
- Significantly lower than previous Game 7s like 2010 and 2016.
- Despite being a Game 7, it drew fewer viewers than several non-Game 7 Finals games in past years.
- Viewership was strong compared to recent NBA ratings overall, but not by historical Game 7 standards.
⸻
This makes it the least-watched and lowest-rated NBA Finals Game 7 on record.

Going back a decade really changes things. I go to the gym where there are tv's on every treadmill with cable. Half the people on them are streaming something to their phone vs using the TV that's bigger. People just have more entertainment options than even 9 years ago.

[dhsilv2]

I think it's wild it peaked at 20 million viewers and the Super Bowl peaked at like 127 million. Just a huge difference.

The Superbowl is an event that has more to do with watching the commercials, the halftime show, and the party with friends than the sport.

[walk with me]

The fact an nba finals game 7 is only the most watched since 2019, the last year before covid, is a low-mark not an high-mark imo.

Look at the game 7s since 2000, one of them stands out

2016 Cavs vs. Warriors
HH Rating 15.8
Average Viewers 31.02 M

2010 Celtics vs. Lakers
HH Rating 15.6
Average Viewers 28.2 M

2013 Spurs vs. Heat
HH Rating 15.3
Average Viewers 26.3 M

2025 Thunder vs. Pacers
HH Rating 9.3
Average Viewers 16.35 M

Silly comp

2016 = Steph vs LeBron
2010 = Kobe vs KG
2013 = LeBron in a game 7
2025 = SGA vs Haliburton?

Shouldn’t be a shock fans want to see stars