NBA Finals Viewership Sees 22% Rise

In a Nielsen report, a data analytics and media company, ABC’s broadcast of the 2022 NBA Finals saw a 22% increase in viewership compared to the 2021 edition.

The sixth game of the series, where the Warriors sealed their fourth championship in eight years, saw an average viewership of 14 million people and peaked at 16.82 million viewers, which was 75% higher than its closest competitor.

Before the global pandemic began in 2019, Finals viewership was reportedly at 15.14 million people but fell to 12.52 million in 2021, a fifty-one per cent increase compared to the 2020 Finals.

Additionally, this year’s Finals were the sixth most viewed program on television in June, and had the highest share in five years for NBA Finals, with one in five television viewers watching live.

Despite the increase in viewership, the broadcaster still recorded the fourth-lowest ratings for a Finals game since 1998.

In the UK, broadcaster, Sky Sports, saw a 58% increase in viewership, with European social media viewers totalling 226 million people, a 23% rise.