2017 NBA Finals Were Most-Watched Since 1998

Last Updated on: June 14th, 2017

Image courtesy NBA.com

Disney-Owned ABC has announced that this year’s NBA Finals were the most-watched since 1998. The claim is based on Nielsen’s measurement of 20,840,000 average viewers (20,406,000 on television plus 434,000 live stream viewers) for the five-game series. Monday’s Game 5 averaged 25,003,000 average viewers- also a first since 1998.

This is all a bit surprising if you have been following the NBA Playoffs this year. A number of industry pundits were skeptical about the level of interest in this series given the lack of competitiveness of the playoffs leading up to the finals. It is also pretty good news for Disney, given their struggles over the past few years with the declining viewership of their sports programming.

About the Author

Craig Smith

I am founder and editor of DisneyNews.us. My passion for all things Disney goes pretty far back to my first trip to Walt Disney World in the mid-80's. I have since returned to the magical place more than 20 times. I started this site when I came to the realization that I spent a significant portion of my day reading articles about Disney and watching Disney content with my 8-year old, so it made sense that I would start sharing some of what I read and see and building a little community around it. Other interests include 80's nostalgia, vintage toys, video games, LEGO, Star Wars and tech gadgets. Other sites include DMR and VideoGamesStats.com.