• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

The seven-game NBA Finals averaged 10.3 million Nielsen-measured viewers on ABC and ESPN+ -- down 9% from the year before.

National TV advertising revenue for the major basketball contest was up 56% to $288 million, coming from 608 advertiser commercial airings and 5.7 billion impressions, according to EDO Ad EnGage.

The previous year, a five-game series where the Boston Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks four games to one earned $184.7 million in national TV advertising revenues for ABC/ESPN. That series averaged 11.3 million viewers.

Because the contest featured small and mid-sized market teams, for the Oklahoma Thunder/Indianapolis Pacers series, analysts estimated somewhat lower viewership. However, the closely fought series that extended to seven games pulled in high viewer interest.

The Thunder beat the Pacers, four games to three. The seventh and deciding game posted the best results (16.4 million) on ABC/ESPN -- the highest-rated NBA Finals game since Game Six of the 2019 (Toronto Raptors vs. the Golden State Warriors) series, which averaged 18.3 million viewers.

Overall, the Thunder/Pacers finals was the lowest series in TV viewing since 2021, when the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns, four games to two -- 9.9 million viewers.

Previous to this year’s finals, 34 NBA playoff games on ESPN/ABC, averaged 6.2 million viewers, up 10% from the year before.