The New York Knicks’ championship victory drummed up an impressive audience to close out the NBA finals, with the final match scoring the most-watched Game 5 since 1998.
Game 5, which aired Saturday, June 13, brought in 24.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen big-data-plus-panel figures. Viewership, which soared 157% from last year’s Game 5, peaked with 33 million viewers as fans tuned in to the final moments of the Knicks’ win.
The game also scored the largest audience of the day across all of television and in every key male and adult demo.
Across five games, the NBA Finals averaged 20.6 million, marking a record for ABC and ESPN as well as the most-watched championship series since 1998. Viewership for the series was up 100% from last year’s seven-game NBA Finals.
Game 5 closes out this year’s strong ratings for the NBA Finals, with the first two matchups bringing in ABC’s most-watched Games 1 and 2 since 2018, with 16.93 million viewers for Game 1 on Wednesday, June 3, and 16.43 million viewers for Game 2 on Friday, June 5.
Game 3 on Monday, June 8, brought in the biggest Game 3 audience since 1998 with 23.8 million viewers, while Game 4 achieved a similar milestone as it brought in the biggest Game 4 audience since ’98 with 20.9 million viewers. The closing match on Saturday scored the series’ biggest audience as it nearly cracked 25 million viewers.
The Knicks won the first two games of the series, defeating the San Antonio Spurs 105-95 for Game 1 and 105-104 for Game 2. The Spurs then took Game 3 115-111, though the Knicks rebounded with Game 4 (107-106) and closed the deal with Game 5 (94-90).
