The 2015 NBA finals saw the Golden State Warriors clinch their first title in
40 years – and the series was officially confirmed as the highest rated on TV
since 1998, when the Bulls triumphed in Michael Jordan’s final season with
Chicago.
Nearly 20m people, on average, watched the Warriors-Cavaliers series on ABC, the highest viewership in 17 years, when 29m tuned in to watch Jordan’s Bulls beat the Utah Jazz in dramatic style.
Tuesday night’s game, when Golden State won 105-97 in Cleveland to seal a four-games-to-two series victory, was the most watched Game 6 in ABC’s history, scoring 23.2m viewers, according to Nielsen.
The previous best in the post-Jordan era came in 2001, when the Shaquille O’Neal-led LA Lakers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers four games to one, and 18.9m viewers watched. Sunday’s Game 6 at the Quicken Loans Arena was also the most watched finals game since 2013, when LeBron James notched 37 points in Game 7 against the Spurs to give Miami their second straight championship.
The NBA has failed to replicate the TV ratings it enjoyed in the 1990s, a run that spiked with Bulls-Suns in 1993 and peaked with Jordan’s Chicago finale in 1998. In that series, broadcast on NBC, the Bulls beat the Jazz in six games. Jordan hit a 20ft jumper to give Chicago an 87-86 lead with seconds remaining, and then John Stockton missed a three-pointer to give the Bulls the title. The game-winner, Jordan’s final shot in a Bulls uniform, is widely acknowledged as one of the most memorable plays in NBA history.
Television ratings plunged after Jordan retired. Some fans blame the 1998-99 lockout, which wiped out 32 games of the following season and caused many viewers to switch off. The 1999 Knicks-Spurs series did not rate well on TV.
This season’s finals was also the best rated since it moved to ABC in 2003 – and the closest the NBA has come to the huge audiences it enjoyed in the 1980s and 90s.
Nearly 20m people, on average, watched the Warriors-Cavaliers series on ABC, the highest viewership in 17 years, when 29m tuned in to watch Jordan’s Bulls beat the Utah Jazz in dramatic style.
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| Cleveland’s LeBron James drives on the Warriors’ Stephen Curry during Tuesday’s Game 6. Photograph: Ken Blaze/USA Today Sports |
Tuesday night’s game, when Golden State won 105-97 in Cleveland to seal a four-games-to-two series victory, was the most watched Game 6 in ABC’s history, scoring 23.2m viewers, according to Nielsen.
The previous best in the post-Jordan era came in 2001, when the Shaquille O’Neal-led LA Lakers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers four games to one, and 18.9m viewers watched. Sunday’s Game 6 at the Quicken Loans Arena was also the most watched finals game since 2013, when LeBron James notched 37 points in Game 7 against the Spurs to give Miami their second straight championship.
The NBA has failed to replicate the TV ratings it enjoyed in the 1990s, a run that spiked with Bulls-Suns in 1993 and peaked with Jordan’s Chicago finale in 1998. In that series, broadcast on NBC, the Bulls beat the Jazz in six games. Jordan hit a 20ft jumper to give Chicago an 87-86 lead with seconds remaining, and then John Stockton missed a three-pointer to give the Bulls the title. The game-winner, Jordan’s final shot in a Bulls uniform, is widely acknowledged as one of the most memorable plays in NBA history.
Television ratings plunged after Jordan retired. Some fans blame the 1998-99 lockout, which wiped out 32 games of the following season and caused many viewers to switch off. The 1999 Knicks-Spurs series did not rate well on TV.
This season’s finals was also the best rated since it moved to ABC in 2003 – and the closest the NBA has come to the huge audiences it enjoyed in the 1980s and 90s.
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