Knicks’ Historic Title Run Scores Best NBA Finals Audience Since 1998

The New York Knicks’ historic NBA Championship run drove some of the biggest television audiences the league Finals has seen in decades.

Saturday’s Game 5 averaged 24.5M viewers across ABC and ESPN, per Nielsen Big Data + Panel, marking the most-watched NBA Finals game since 1998. It peaked with 33M viewers in the final moments of the game as the Knicks sealed a victory.

And, in fact, the entire series was a slam dunk, driving the highest average viewership since 1998 as well. Across five games, ABC and ESPN saw an average 20.6M viewers tune in.

The games have clearly been dominating television (and the collective consciousness), especially once the Knicks appeared poised to unexpectedly defeat the San Antonio Spurs for the team’s first title in 53 years.

Per Nielsen, the Finals were generating the largest viewing audience of the day across all of television and in every key male and adult demo.