NBA Finals *Game 7* on ABC averages more than 26 million viewers

ABC’s coverage of Game 7 of the NBA Finals averaged 26.32 million viewers, the second-largest audience for a NBA Finals game since the network resumed televising the event in 2003.

Only Game 7 of the 2010 Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston
Celtics, which averaged 28.2 million viewers, averaged more viewers than the
Miami Heat’s 95-88 victory over the San Antonio Spurs Thursday night, according
to live-plus-same-day figures released today by Nielsen.

The audience was the largest for a prime-time television program since
ABC aired the Oscars on Feb. 24. The series averaged 17.47 million viewers, the most since 2010, the last time the finals went the maximum seven games and second-largest since 2005, despite four of the games being decided by 10 points or more.

Viewership was up 3.7 percent over last year’s five-game finals between
the Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder, which averaged 16.86 million viewers.