Lakers’ Game 7 Victory Notches Highest NBA Rating in Post-Jordan Era

Game 7 of the NBA Finals picked up where the first five games left off for ABC, notching an 18.2 overnight rating to become the highest-rated NBA game since Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls made their sixth and final NBA championship run, in 1998 against the Utah Jazz. The overnight rating for the Lakers’ 83-79 championship-clinching victory over the Boston Celtics also marks the highest-rated NBA Finals game ever on ABC (Lakers-Detroit Pistons, Game 5, 2005, 15.5 overnight rating; ABC overnight records go back to 2003).

In addition, every Finals game this year was the highest-rated show of the night and led ABC to win the night in primetime for all seven nights of the series. Game 6 notched a 12.3 overnight rating. Through six games, the Finals on ABC averaged 16.434 million viewers and a 9.7 rating, the highest six-game averages since 2004 (Pistons-Lakers).

The game’s overnight rating was up 32% over the latest Game 7, in 2005 (Pistons-Spurs, 13.8 overnight rating).

In Los Angeles, Game 7 delivered a 39.7 metered-market rating to become ABC’s highest-rated NBA game in the market ever. Boston’s 33.9 rating is ABC’s second-highest-rated game in that market, trailing only the Celtics’ championship-clincher in 2008 (Game 6).