NBA Finals Game 7 on ABC – the Miami Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs in a thriller to repeat as NBA Champions – delivered 26,319,000 viewers – the second biggest audience ever for an NBA game on ABC, according to Nielsen.
The 2013 NBA Finals averaged 17,667,000 viewers, marking the second-highest figure since 2004 and a 5% increase from 2012 (16,855,000 viewers).
Viewership for the game telecast, which produced a final national household rating of 15.3, peaked from 11:30-11:45 p.m. ET with an average of 34,247,000 million viewers. The seven-game ratings average for the 2013 NBA Finals was a 10.5.
Digital records
Game 7 of The Finals on ABC live through special simulcasts on ESPN3 logged its largest NBA game ever with more than 32 million total minutes and an average minute audience of 189,000 across computers, smartphones, tablets, Xbox and Apple TV (source: Adobe SiteCatalyst). Additionally, NBA content across ESPN digital platforms generated over 115 million total minutes, the largest single day of the NBA Playoffs and nearly half of which were consumed on mobile properties. NBA content on ESPN.com also logged an average minute audience of 25,000 (up 64 percent compared to Games 1-6).
ESPN Deportes Viewership
A total of 14,994,000 Hispanics tuned to ESPN Deportes and ABC’s telecasts of the NBA Finals over the first six games, and 1,215,000 Hispanics watched exclusively on ESPN Deportes (Note: complete game 7 ABC and ESPN Deportes Hispanic reach figures not yet available).
ESPN will televise the 2013 NBA Draft presented by State Farm on Thursday, June 27, at 7:30 p.m. The Draft is also available via WatchESPN.