ABC's Warriors-Cavaliers Game 7 Telecast Sets Network NBA Finals Ratings Record

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the NBA Finals drew the highest rating ever for an ABC basketball telecast, according to Nielsen.

The game, which produced the city of Cleveland’s first championship since 1964, drew an 18.9 rating, the most watched NBA game ever on ABC since the 2010 Los Angeles Lakers- Boston Celtics telecast, and was the highest-rated sports telecast on ABC or ESPN since 2006, according to Nielsen.

 Last night’s Game 7 became the most-watched NBA game ever on WatchESPN across all metrics. It generated 96,276,000 total minutes streamed, 1,760,000 unique viewers and an average minute audience of 598,000 viewers, which is the most for a non-World Cup event ever on WatchESPN, said ESPN.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.