Update: in the final ratings people loved it even a little more still with the final number being adjusted up to 19.2 million viewers.
Original post below:
Sure, it was the first NBA finals series to ever start out with two overtime games, but through two games the Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors NBA finals are averaging 18.3 million viewers (17.8M for game 1 and 18.8M for last night’s game). Both games had record numbers for games 1 & 2 of the NBA Finals since the Finals moved to ABC in 2003.
We consider those numbers very impressive especially when you consider the last series to average over 18 million viewers was the 2010 Lakers-Celtics series that averaged 18.1 million viewers. But it took a deciding 7th game that averaged a whopping 28.2 million viewers to bolster the Lakers-Celtics series average above 18 million viewers.
Last night’s game peaked with 24.4 million viewers at 11pm ET.