The 2025 NBA Finals were one of the least-watched in history—but Game 7 delivered an important viewership lift.
The do-or-die Game 7 between the Thunder and Pacers drew 16.35 million viewers on ABC and ESPN+, the most-watched NBA game since Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals (Warriors vs. Raptors, 18.34 million).
The full seven-game series averaged 10.27 million viewers, down 9.3% compared to last year’s Finals between the Mavericks and Celtics (11.31 million). That makes it the least-watched NBA Finals series since 2021 (9.91 million, Bucks vs. Suns and the least-watched since 2007 when excluding COVID-19-impacted series (9.29 million, Spurs vs. Cavaliers).
Sunday’s game provided a 74% viewership lift compared to the 9.25 million viewership average of the first six games in the series. That’s more than the 65% average viewership lift the four other NBA Game 7s this century provided to their series—Sunday’s game likely got a lift from streaming on ESPN+, which was not the case for the first six games of the series, according to Sports Media Watch.
The four other Game 7s this century also drew more total viewers than this year’s game. The most recent Game 7 between the Cavaliers and Warriors in 2016 drew 31 million viewers.
Viewership numbers for NBA Game 7s since 2000:
- 2025, Thunder vs. Pacers: 16.35 million
- 2016, Warriors vs. Cavaliers: 31 million
- 2013, Heat vs. Spurs: 26.32 million
- 2010, Lakers vs. Celtics: 28.2 million
- 2005, Pistons vs. Spurs: 19 million
Oklahoma City and Indiana are in the bottom-third of TV markets in the NBA, but the power of Game 7 helped the two small-market teams draw more than all but one game of the 2024 World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers.
However, the NBA Finals were down significantly compared to MLB’s previous Game 7s of the World Series in 2016 (40 million, Cubs vs. Cleveland), 2017 (28.2 million, Astros vs. Dodgers), and 2019 (23 million, Nationals vs. Astros).
