Inside The Numbers: 2015 NBA Finals Were Highest-Rated, Most-Viewed Ever For ABC

UPDATED: 5:45pm ET

When it was all said and done, the Golden State Warriors were more than LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers could handle. For the first time since 1975, the Warriors are NBA Champions after defeating the Cavs 4-2.

There is lots of talk about who the biggest winners and losers are in the aftermath of the 2015 NBA Finals, but there’s little doubting that one of the biggest benefactors this year was Walt Disney-owned ABC, who have been the exclusive home to the NBA Finals since the 2002-2003 season.

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The 2015 NBA Finals would up being the highest-rated ever on ABC, based on metered market ratings from Nielsen. The six-game series averaged a 13.9 overnight rating, which is up 31 percent from a 10.6 for the 2014 NBA Finals which featured LeBron James with the Miami Heat going up against Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.

The six-game series averaged nearly 20 million viewers (19,939,000 P2+)  up 30 percent from the 2014 NBA Finals.

Each game in the series was a record-setter for ABC, and with the Warriors on the cusp of winning last night, Tuesday’s Game 6 delivered (as expected) the highest numbers. The game that saw Andre Iguodala win the Finals MVP  pulled a whopping 15.9 overnight rating, making it the highest-rated Game 6 ever on ABC. It was up eight percent from a 14.7 for the most recent NBA Finals Game 6 – (Miami-San Antonio 2013).  Last night’s broadcast peaked with an 18.8 rating from 11:45 p.m.-midnight ET.

Last night’s Game 6 delivered an average audience of 23,254,000 viewers, peaking with 28,744,000 viewers from 11:45 p.m.-midnight ET.

READ: Andre Iguodala And LeBron James Were The Only Two Players To Get Any NBA Finals MVP Votes 

Below shows the overnight ratings for each of the games in the 2015 Finals compared to last year (* the most recent Game 6 prior to last night was in 2013)

 For the 48th consecutive time, the NBA Finals won the night across all of broadcast and cable television, more than doubling its competition across the channel listings.

The NBA Finals on ESPN Deportes averaged a 0.7 Hispanic Household Rating with 144,000 Hispanic viewers (P2+). The series is tied with 2014 for the highest-rated ever in Spanish-language. Last night’s Game 6 averaged a 1.1 Hispanic Household Rating with 243,000 Hispanic viewers, up 22 percent and 17 percent, respectively, for Game 6 in 2013.

In local home markets for both teams, as expected the numbers were exceptionally high, The San Francisco market pulled a 40.7 overnight rating for Game 6 which is the highest-rated NBA game ever in the market as far as records go back (2002). Additionally, Game 6 delivered a 42.0 in the Cleveland market, which ranks as the fifth-highest rated NBA game ever on ABC or ESPN.

In terms of those that watched the game streamed to their computer or mobile devices, last night’s Game 6 saw nearly 1 million unique viewers (939,000) on WatchESPN, the streaming platform for the 2015 NBA Finals. That ranks as the most ever for an NBA game on the platform. In addition, Game 6 drew an average minute audience of 292,000 viewers, which also ranks as the most-watched NBA game ever on the platform.

For pre-game programming, NBA Countdown, ABC’s NBA Finals pre-game show, delivered a 5.1 overnight rating, up 16 percent from a 4.4 for the most recent Game 6 pre-game show, in 2013.