Sunday Final Nationals: Cavaliers-Warriors NBA Finals Game 7 on ABC Draws Best NBA Game Ratings in 18 Years

Sunday night’s NBA Finals Game 7 on ABC was the most-watched, highest-rated NBA game since Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals (which had aired on NBC), according to Nielsen. ABC’s Game 7 viewership peaked with 44.511 million viewers and a 22.5 U.S. rating from 10:30-10:40 p.m. ET.

The 2016 NBA Finals on ABC, in which the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors 4-3 in a rematch from 2015, was the most-watched NBA Finals since 1998. The series averaged 20.166 million viewers and an 11.3 U.S. rating for its seven games. The back-to-back Cavaliers-Warriors NBA Finals in 2015 and 2016 are the two-most-watched and highest-rated NBA Finals ever on ABC.

The NBA Finals on ABC won the night across all of television for the 55th consecutive time.

For the week of June 13-19, ABC averaged 10.5 million viewers — the most for the network since Feb. 16-22, 2015 — with a 3.5 rating/14 share along adults 18-49 — ABC’s best since June 6-12, 2011.

WatchESPN NBA Audience Records

Sunday night’s Game 7 became the most-watched NBA game ever on WatchESPN across all metrics. It generated 96.276 million total minutes streamed, 1.76 million unique viewers and an average minute audience of 598,000 viewers, which is the most for a non-World Cup event ever on WatchESPN.

Top local markets on ABC

NBA Finals Game 7 on ABC delivered a 46.3 in the Cleveland market, making it the second-highest rated NBA game ever in the market. In San Francisco, the game generated a 39.4 rating, which also ranks second all-time for an NBA Game. The rest of the top 10 markets included Columbus (30.1), Miami (24.3), San Antonio (23.6), Sacramento (23.3), Memphis (21.7), Atlanta (21.3), Dayton (21.0) and Norfolk (20.7).
 
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	Sunday, June 19, 2016
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
7-11	Network Average	12.5/24	24541	8.5/37	8.9/32	9.4/28
7:00	Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night (s)	2.3/5	3863	1.0/5	1.1/5	1.3/5
7:31	NBA Countdown (s)	3.4/7	6102	2.0/12	2.1/10	2.3/9
8:00	2016 NBA Finals Game 7 Cleveland @ Golden State (s)	15.8/29	31018	10.8/43	11.3/38	11.8/34
10:40	NBA Trophy Presentation (s) (thru 11:09)	14.1/26	27774	10.1/39	10.6/34	11.0/31
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
7-11	Network Average	2.6/5	3919	0.2/1	0.4/1	0.7/2
7:00	60 Minutes (r)	4.4/9	6725	0.4/2	0.6/3	1.1/4
8:00	BraindDead (r)	2.3/4	3433	0.2/1	0.4/1	0.6/2
9:00	Madam Secretary (r)	1.9/3	2919	0.2/1	0.3/1	0.5/2
10:00	Elementary (r)	1.8/3	2599	0.2/1	0.3/1	0.5/1
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
7-11	Network Average	1.5/3	2522	0.5/2	0.7/3	0.9/3
7:00	Movie: Despicable Me 2 (2013)	1.5/3	2585	0.5/2	0.7/3	0.9/3
9:00	American Ninja Warrior (r)	1.4/3	2460	0.5/2	0.7/2	0.9/2
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
7-10	Network Average	3.0/6	5103	0.9/4	1.2/5	1.5/5
11:00a	U.S. Open Golf Final Round (s)	3.4/9	5393	0.9/7	1.1/7	1.5/7
8:20	U.S. Open Golf Post-Match (s)	2.4/5	3984	0.6/3	0.9/3	1.2/4
8:47	The Simpsons (r)	0.9/2	1482	0.4/2	0.5/2	0.6/2
9:00	Brooklyn Nine-Nine (r)	0.7/1	1193	0.3/1	0.4/1	0.5/1
9:30	Family Guy (r)	0.7/1	1103	0.4/1	0.4/1	0.5/1
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
7-11	Network Average	0.6/1	1092		0.4/1
7:00	Aquí y Ahora	0.7/1	1206		0.4/2
8:00	Los Tigres del Norte	0.6/1	1016		0.3/1
10:00	Sal y Pimienta	0.7/1	1130		0.4/1
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
7-11	Network Average	0.3/1	483		0.2/1
7:00	Cine Duedas de Juego (2007)	0.3/1	482		0.2/1
9:00	Cine Sector 4: Extracción (2014)	0.3/1	484		0.2/1

Sub-Demo Breakdowns – Sunday 6/19/16

Cable Rankings – Sunday 6/19/16

What follows are the top 100 most-watched shows in prime time on cable (by order of network) for Sunday, June 19:

Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research