Basketball stock image.
(Stock image via Pexels, Graphic by The Desk)
The seven-game NBA Finals might have pulled in smaller numbers for ABC and ESPN Plus this year, but it was still financially lucrative for parent company Disney.
National TV advertising revenue against the seven-game NBA Finals rose to $288 million this year, a 56 percent increase compared to the five-game series in 2024, according to data from EDO’s Ad Engage platform.
This year’s NBA Finals saw the Western Conference top seed Oklahoma City Thunder take on the Eastern Conference fan-favorite Indiana Pacers. Almost from the start, the NBA Finals was characterized as a battle between teams from the two smallest television markets in the league.
More than 600 advertisers shrugged off the narrative, including presenting sponsor YouTube TV, whose logo was prominently featured throughout the broadcast, to include digital court insertions.
Their return on investment is something of a mixed bag: The final game of the series, aired on Sunday, delivered the highest ratings for an individual NBA Finals event since 2019, attracting more than 16 million viewers and peaking with over 19 million viewers, according to Nielsen data
But the seven-game stretch, as a whole, attracted lower ratings compared to the prior year, which involved teams from bigger TV markets (Boston and Dallas). The 2024 NBA Finals drew an average audience of 11.3 million viewers, compared to the 10.3 million that watched the games on ABC and ESPN Plus this year. (The viewership data is based on preliminary reports; finalized viewership data is expected later this week.)