NBA Finals viewership up 24 percent over 2021

By DAVID BAUDER
AP Media Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly 14 million people watched the Golden State Warriors win its fourth NBA championship since 2015 by beating the Boston Celtics in the sixth game of their series.

The series that matched the NBA’s most current dynasty against the one with the most championships overall averaged 12.3 million viewers, which was 24% more than the 2021 series between Milwaukee and Phoenix, the Nielsen company said.

As is typical, the series built in audience as it went on, with the 13.99 million people who watched the final game nearly a million more than the audience for any other game, Nielsen said.

The first game of hockey’s Stanley Cup Finals between Colorado and Tampa Bay was seen by 4.2 million people last week.

Each of these sports events was seen on ABC, allowing the network to dominate the weekly ratings race. ABC averaged 5 million viewers in prime time last week, CBS averaged 2.8 million, NBC averaged 2.6 million, Fox had 1.5 million, Univision had 1.1 million, Telemundo had 940,000 and Ion Television had 900,000.

Fox News Channel topped cable networks with an average of 2.15 million viewers. MSNBC had 1.37 million, HGTV had 927,000, Discovery had 779,000 and TLC had 750,000.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race with an average of 7.2 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.4 million viewers and the “CBS Evening News” had 4.7 million.

For the week of June 13-19, the top 20 prime-time programs, their networks and viewerships:

1. NBA Finals Game 6: Golden State at Boston, ABC, 13.99 million.

2. NBA Finals Game 5: Boston at Golden State, ABC, 13.02 million.

3. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 6.21 million.

4. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 5.58 million.

5. “60 Minutes” (Sunday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 4.7 million.

6. Stanley Cup Finals Game 1: Tampa Bay at Colorado, ABC, 4.2 million.

7. “The Price is Right 50th Anniversary,” CBS, 4.02 million.

8. “NBA Countdown” (Thursday), ABC, 4 million.

9. “FBI,” CBS, 3.81 million.

10. Stanley Cup Finals Game 2: Tampa Bay at Colorado, ABC, 3.75 million.

11. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 3.68 million.

12. “Stanley Cup Pregame” (Wednesday), ABC, 3.65 million.

13. “NBA Countdown” (Monday), ABC, 3.61 million.

14. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 3.52 million.

15. “NCIS,” CBS, 3.37 million.

16. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.27 million.

17. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 3.26 million.

18. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Monday), Fox News, 3.2 million.

19. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 3.184 million.

20. “FBI: International,” CBS, 3.176 million.