Knicks-Spurs delivers most-watched NBA Finals since 1998

NEW YORK – 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.