The NBA finals are off to a record-breaking start, with Wednesday’s game scoring ABC’s biggest Game 1 audience since 2018.
Game 1, which aired on Wednesday, June 3, brought in 16.93 million viewers, according to Nielsen big data plus panel figures, marking the most-watched opening Game 1 ever on ABC, excluding the Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers matchups.
Average viewership for the game, which peaked with 19.63 million viewers at 11 p.m. ET, was up 90% from last year’s Game 1.
Game 1 was Wednesday’s most-watched program of the day across all of TV and in all key male and adult demos, and also marked the most-watched NBA Finals game since 2019’s Game 6.
The strong viewership accounts for the impressive turnout for Knicks fans, who haven’t seen the team in the playoffs since 1999 nor won a championship since 1973.
The kickoff game saw the New York Knicks defeat the San Antonio Spurs 105-95. Game 2 will tip off Friday, June 5 at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT, with Game 3 scheduled for Monday, June 8 and Game 4 scheduled for Wednesday, June 10. The finals could stretch further into June as needed, with the potential Game 7 slated for Friday, June 19.
Prior to the finals’ ratings milestone, the NBA closed out its 2026 season with biggest regular season audience the league has seen in 24 years, with viewership for NBA games totaling 170 million viewers in the U.S. across ABC/ESPN, Prime Video, NBC/Peacock and NBA TV through the regular season. That’s up 86% over last season’s viewership tally.
Games across ABC/ESPN, Prime Video and NBC/Peacock averaged 1.78M viewers, marking the biggest average audience in seven years and rising 16% year-over-year. When including figures from NBA TV, the league saw its highest average viewership in 13 years, up 35% from last year.
