Thunder-Pacers Game 7 salvages small-market NBA Finals ratings

Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Pacers and Thunder was the most-watched NBA game since 2019, according to Nielsen fast-nationals.While Indiana and Oklahoma City are two of the smaller markets in the league, the stakes of the win-or-go-home finale drew in a peak of 19.28 million viewers and an average of 16.35 million viewers to ABC and ESPN+.The 16.35-million average blew the games of the last six years out of the water, with the next best viewership being Game 6 of the 2022 finals between the Celtics and Warriors at 13.99 million viewers.Game 6 between the Raptors and Warriors in 2019 was the last time an NBA game surpassed Sunday night’s viewership, when Toronto finished off Golden State to win its first-ever title in front of an average of 18.59 million viewers.Sunday night’s game was, however, the lowest-viewed NBA Finals Game 7 across the entire Nielsen people meter era (1988-present).It was the first Game 7 in a finals series since 2016 when LeBron James helped the Cavaliers finish off their 3-1 comeback against the Warriors and the game drew 31.02 million viewers.Considering the viewership through the first six games of this year’s finals series, Sunday’s mark of over 16 million seemed unlikely.Before Game 7, no game in the series had even reached 10 million viewers, with Game 5 having the highest viewership at 9.54 million.With the massive jump in Game 7, it raised the entire series’ viewership to an average of 10.27 million viewers per game.This average is down from last year’s finals where the Celtics and Mavericks drew 11.31 million viewers.Game 7 saw the Thunder come away victorious 103-91, winning their first title in the franchise’s history while the Pacers remain championship-less.Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander capped off his MVP regular season by winning the Finals MVP award.For Indiana, star Tyrese Haliburton went down with a torn Achilles after scoring nine points in just seven minutes.The game was shaping up to be a t...