NBA Finals television ratings

• 1. Introduction

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  NBA Finals television ratings begin with a single entry from 1974. That year, CBS broadcast the Boston Celtics against the Milwaukee Bucks to a 13.5 rating and a 32 share. That figure sits at the start of five decades of Nielsen numbers. Over that span, ratings swung from record highs to a collapse serious enough to draw national attention. Three networks carried the series across those decades, and each one produced its own record highs. The chapters ahead trace which series set each network's high mark, and why the ratings eventually fell far enough to prompt competing explanations.

• 2. The NBC Peak

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  In 1998, NBC's broadcast of the Chicago Bulls against the Utah Jazz averaged an 18.7 rating, a 33 share, and 29.04 million viewers. It remains the highest average recorded for any NBA Finals series. That series' Game 6, played on a Sunday night, drew a 22.3 rating, a 38 share, and 35.89 million viewers, the highest total for any single NBA Finals broadcast. Four years earlier, NBC aired Game 5 of the 1994 Finals between the Houston Rockets and the New York Knicks, and that night's broadcast overlapped with live coverage of O.J. Simpson's Bronco chase; the game drew a 7.8 rating and 14 share, the lowest number of that series.

• 3. CBS's High-Water Marks

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  In 1987, CBS's broadcast of the Los Angeles Lakers against the Boston Celtics averaged a 15.9 rating, a 32 share, and 24.12 million viewers, the network's highest rated and most watched NBA Finals on record. A year later, Game 7 of the 1988 Finals between the Lakers and the Detroit Pistons posted a 21.2 rating and 37 share, CBS's highest rated and most watched NBA game of any Finals it broadcast. Game-by-game viewership for most series before 2000 is generally unavailable.

• 4. ABC's Modern Peaks

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  In 2015, ABC's broadcast of the Golden State Warriors against the Cleveland Cavaliers averaged an 11.6 rating and 19.94 million viewers, the network's highest rated Finals series; the same two teams' 2017 rematch averaged an 11.3 rating and 20.38 million viewers, the network's most watched series. Game 7 of the 2016 Finals drew a 15.8 rating, 29 share, and 31.02 million viewers, the first basketball game over 30 million average viewers in 18 years and only the seventh non-NFL sports telecast (Olympics excluded) to do so since 1998.

• 5. The Cross-Border Anomaly

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  The 2019 Finals, Golden State Warriors vs. Toronto Raptors, averaged an 8.8 rating and 15.14 million viewers, a drop in American viewership. Analysts pointed to the Raptors: Canadian viewership doesn't count toward US Nielsen ratings, so combined North American viewership held up even as the US number fell, and the Raptors' run pushed Canadian audiences to record levels.

• 6. The 2020 Collapse

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  The 2020 Finals hit a historic low, one game drawing only 5.1 million viewers and a six-game average of 7.5 million, a 51 percent decline from the year before. Some blamed the players' political activism, others the COVID-19 pandemic pushing the Finals out of season (the NHL and MLB playoffs saw comparable declines). The three lowest rated games on record all came from that series: Game 3 at 3.1, Game 2 at 3.6, Game 1 at 4.1.