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The 2026 NBA Finals were the league’s most-watched championship series since Michael Jordan was on the Bulls.
The five-game series between the Knicks and Spurs averaged 20.6 million viewers on ABC per Nielsen data, ESPN announced Tuesday. It’s the most-watched Finals series on ABC and ESPN networks, and the most-watched NBA title series since the 1998 NBA Finals (29.04 million on NBC).
That series saw Chicago win its sixth title in eight years and was Jordan’s last series with the Bulls.
The 2026 NBA Finals also drew a 157% increase over last year’s seven-game series between the Thunder and Pacers, which drew just 10.3 million viewers last year, one of the least-watched Finals.
The series-clinching fifth game drew 24.5 million viewers, the most-watched NBA Finals game since Game 7 of the 2016 Finals between the Cavaliers and the Warriors, which featured LeBron James and Stephen Curry (31 million).
Knicks star Jalen Brunson scored 45 points in Saturday’s Game 5 to seal the win over Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs in San Antonio. New York, the country’s largest television market, won its first NBA title in 53 years.
The last time the same two teams met in the Finals was 1999, a five-game series San Antonio won. It drew 16.01 million viewers. This year’s series drew about 28% more viewers.
Here is the viewership for each game of the 2026 NBA Finals:
- Game 1: 16.93 million
- Game 2: 16.43 million
- Game 3: 23.79 million
- Game 4: 20.94 million
- Game 5: 24.5 million
The series outdrew the top-rated Finals in the mid- to late-2010s—four consecutive series where James and the Cavaliers faced Curry and the Warriors.
The seven-game NBA Finals between Golden State and Cleveland in 2016—when the Cavaliers became the first team to rally from a 3–1 deficit—averaged 20.28 million viewers. The following year, when the Warriors added Kevin Durant, the five-game series against the Cavaliers averaged 20.38 million viewers.
Both series were on ABC. The NBA Finals have been on the network since 2003.
Compared to other leagues, the World Series is the best comparison for the NBA Finals, given that the one-day Super Bowl consistently draws more than 100 million viewers. The last World Series to outdraw the 2026 NBA Finals was the 2016 Fall Classic between Chicago and Cleveland, which drew 22.8 million viewers. That series saw the Cubs snap a 108-year World Series drought.
It’s worth noting that Nielsen Big Data + Panel data was used to measure this year’s numbers. Nielsen has added out-of-home viewership in recent years, boosting viewership numbers across the board.
