ABC was already on a torrid viewership pace for the NBA Finals. Now the series has truly reached monster levels.
The Disney-owned network said that Monday’s Game 3 from Madison Square Garden, won by the Spurs, averaged 23.8 million viewers. That figure is up by a whopping 159% from the comparable game last year, and represents the most-watched NBA Finals Game 3 broadcast on any network since 1998. It’s also the most-watched NBA Finals game since the Warriors’ series-clinching victory in Game 5 in 2017, which averaged 24.47 viewers.
Notably, the game was the most-watched program of any type on U.S. television since Super Bowl LX in February.
The latest figure adds more than 7 million viewers beyond the average of 16.43 million that Game 2 last Friday posted, and now pushes the NBA to an audience level more commonly seen for playoff Game Sevens in various major sports, or for a better-than-average NFL regular-season game.
Through Game 3, the NBA Finals is now collectively averaging 19.1 million viewers, up 114% from a year ago and the second-best such mark ever on ABC and ESPN.
