NBA Finals 2015 shatters television, digital and retail records

NEW YORK – The NBA Finals 2015 – which concluded on June 16 and saw the Golden State Warriors defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers four games to two – broke records across television, digital, and retail, becoming the most-watched and highest-rated Finals in ABC history with nearly 20 million viewers per game and an average 11.6 U.S. household rating.

Highlights from The Finals include:

  • ABC: The six-game series set new Finals records for ABC with 19,939,000 viewers and an 11.6 U.S. rating, up 30 percent and 26 percent, respectively, from The Finals 2014.  Additional details on highest-rated NBA Finals on ABC.
  • NBA Digital: com and NBA Mobile garnered a combined 336 million video views, eclipsing the record set during last year’s Finals.
  • Facebook: On Facebook, fans created 173 million interactions related to The Finals, including posts, comments, and likes.  Additionally, NBA, Warriors and Cavs content amassed a record 98 million video views – up 180 percent from The Finals 2014, via Sports on Facebook.
  • Twitter: On game days throughout The Finals, the NBA accounted for 71 percent of all television-related conversation. #NBAFinals tweets were viewed 7.6 billion times on Twitter and across the web, via @TwitterData.  During the #NBAFinals, 7 million tweets contained the hashflags #CLE, #GSW, #ALLinCLE, #DubNation. 
  • Google: On the day of Game 6, “Golden State Warriors” was the most-searched item on Google, with “Cavs vs Warriors” ranking No. 3.
  • Instagram: The league’s Instagram account added a record 628,000 new followers throughout The Finals, pushing the total following to 7.8 million.
  • Snapchat: With 417,000 views, the NBA posted its most-viewed snap of all time during Game 6.  Overall, NBA Snapchat content received a record 93.5 million views during The Finals.
  • Merchandise: June 17 was the highest-selling day in NBAStore.com history, up triple digits from the previous one-day record.
    o Record-setting sales for NBA Finals 2015 merchandise across all Fanatics platforms, including NBAStore.com and Fanatics.com, up triple digits from the previous record achieved at The Finals 2010 between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.