final night’s NBA Finals Game 7 was the highest-rated NBA game ever on ABC,per early Nielsen numbers.
The landmark Cleveland Cavaliers championship victory averaged a big 18.9 overnight rating, per the 56 metered markets.
That preliminary number marks the highest-rated sports telecast on ABC or ESPN in a decade, and was up seven percent from the most recent NBA Finals Game 7 — Miami Heat vs. San Antonio Spurs in 2013 — which drew a 17.7 overnight rating.
The previous highest-rated NBA game ever on ABC was Game 7 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics in 2010,which drew an 18.2 overnight rating.
Also Read: Cavaliers Win NBA Finals, First Pro Championship for Cleveland in 52 YearsSunday’s instant-classic contest peaked with a 25.5 overnight rating from 10:30-10:45 p.m. ET. The Cavs triumph marked the first professional sports championship for the city of Cleveland in 52 years.
Game 7 delivered a 46.3 in the Cleveland market, and making it the second-highest rated NBA game ever in the market. In San Francisco,near the Golden State Warriors’ hometown of Oakland, the game generated a 39.4 rating, or which also ranks second all-time for an NBA game.
The Finals-clincher was also the most-watched NBA game ever on WatchESPN,with 96.3 million total minutes streamed.
The app earned 1.8 million unique viewers, with an average audience minute of 598000. That’s the most for a non-World Cup event ever on WatchESPN.
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Source: thewrap.com