NBA: 30.8 million viewers in the US for Game 7 of the Finals, a record since 1998

Game 7 of the 2015-16 NBA Finals, which pitted the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Golden State Warriors (93-89 victory for Cleveland, who won the series 4-3) drew an average of 30.8 million viewers in the United States, on the free, national channel ABC (property of the Walt Disney Company), on 19/06/2016.

A peak audience of 44.5 million viewers was recorded in the last minutes of the game. This Game 7 of the 2015-16 NBA Finals was the third most watched programme in the United States in 2016, after the Super Bowl of the NFL (111.9 million) and the Academy Awards (Oscars, 34.4 million). The game attracted the largest audience for an NBA game since Game 6 of the 1998 final between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz (87-86), the last match of Michael Jordan in the NBA Finals, which drew 35.9 million viewers.

The last game of the "best-of-seven" series between Golden State and Cleveland recorded an audience share of 18.9% of all US households, according to the American institute of audience measurement Nielsen Media Research. This audience share is the best for ABC since the channel…