NEW YORK, NY — The 2026 NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs was the most-watched NBA Finals in 28 years (since 1998), averaging 20.6 million viewers on ABC and ESPN. The series generated multi-decade highs and records across television viewership, social media engagement and merchandise sales. Highlights include:
Viewership
- Game 5, which saw the Knicks capture their first NBA championship in 53 years, averaged 24.5 million viewers and peaked at 33 million viewers at 11:15 p.m. ET, marking the most-watched NBA Finals Game 5 since 1998.
- In addition to the most-watched NBA Finals since 1998, the league also saw its most-watched postseason in 28 years across ABC/ESPN, Amazon Prime Video and NBC/Peacock.
- The NBA Finals on ABC and ESPN delivered the highest share for a Finals on record (38.3).
Social / Digital
- The five-game series generated a record 15 billion views and counting on social media, the most ever for an NBA Finals and nearly triple the previous record set in 2025.
- Game 5 generated more than 4 billion views, surpassing the previous single-game record set during Game 4.
- The 2026 NBA Finals continued a record-setting postseason on social media, highlighted by a record eight postseason games surpassing one billion views.
Merchandise
- In the first 24 hours following their clinching win in Game 5, the Knicks set an all-time Fanatics merchandise record for any championship team ever across all sports.
- The 2026 NBA Finals set a new league record for merchandise sales across NBAStore.com, Fanatics, team stores and third-party retail. Finals merchandise sales doubled the previous NBA Finals record set in 2020.
Information and Photos Courtesy of the National Basketball Association
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