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The 2026 NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs became the league's most-watched championship series in 28 years, the NBA said Tuesday, as the Knicks' title-clinching Game 5 drew 24.5 million viewers.
The five-game series averaged 20.6 million viewers across ABC and ESPN, marking the strongest Finals audience since 1998, according to figures released by the league.
The biggest audience came in Game 5, when the Knicks sealed their first NBA championship in 53 years. The game averaged 24.5 million viewers and peaked at 33 million at 11.15 p.m. local broadcast time, or 3:15 a.m. GMT.
The NBA said Game 5 was also the most-watched fifth game of an NBA Finals series since 1998, underlining how the Knicks' long-awaited title run helped push up national interest.
The league also reported that the full 2026 playoffs were the most-watched NBA postseason in 28 years across ABC, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, NBC and Peacock.
Beyond total viewers, the Finals also delivered a record audience share of 38.3%, the highest in championship series history.
Audience share refers to the percentage of people watching television at a given time who are tuned in to a specific program. In this case, the figure showed that more than one-third of viewers watching television during the Finals were watching the NBA championship series.
The Finals also set records across digital platforms, according to NBA figures.
The championship series generated 15 billion social media views, nearly three times the previous record set in 2025. Game 5 alone produced more than 4 billion views, breaking the previous single-game record that had been set during Game 4 of the same series.
The NBA said the 2026 postseason included a record eight games that each brought in more than one billion social media views.
The Knicks' title also carried over into merchandise sales. The league said the team set an all-time Fanatics merchandise sales record for any championship-winning team across all sports within 24 hours of clinching the title.
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