The Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder Game 7 was a ratings dream from TNT, hitting a record for having the highest overnight rating for an NBA game of cable television. The Warriors’ series-clinching win ranked in an 11.2 overnight, breaking the record of Boston Celtics and Miami Heat’s Game 7 last 2012 and became the third-highest cable rating for a non-football sporting event.
Though cable television ratings normally come in lower than ratings for the NBA Finals, Monday’s Game 7 made an impact that it outpaced some of the NBA’s recent championship games. It also gained better ratings than from Games 1-3 of last season’s NBA Finals. Games 4 and 5 of 2015’s Finals earned 11.7 and 11.8, while the Warriors’ championship win in Game 6 of 2015 earned 13.4, ranking as the fourth highest rating in the NBA history, according to Sports Media Watch.
The Western Conference finals’ Game 7 beat the ratings from every game of the 2012 and 2014 NBA Finals. Only seven of the 36 NBA Finals games since 2010 earned a higher rating than Monday’s Game 7.
The only two games that carried out better than Monday’s Game 7 were the 2015 NCAA Final Four game between Wisconsin and Kentucky (13.3) and the 2016 NCAA National Championship game between Villanova and UNC. Both games, however, were broadcasted on three channels (TBS, TNT and TruTV) while Game 7 was only shown on TNT.
via scoop.ph
