The NBA Finals rematch between the Warriors and Cavaliers has been much-anticipated all season, and that proved out in TV viewership for Game 1.
In fact, Thursday's series opener delivered a 13.1 overnight rating, ABC's highest-rated Game 1 ever, according to Nielsen.
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The telecast broke ABC's previous record (12.9) reached last year in the NBA Finals opener between the same teams, and was up 26 percent from Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals (10.4) between the Heat and Spurs.
The 13.1 overnight rating was the highest mark for an NBA Finals Game 1 in 15 years (15.2), when the 76ers and Lakers met in 2001 on NBC.
Thursday's broadcast peaked with a 14.8 rating from 10:45-11 p.m. ET. The game was also the most-watched NBA game ever on WatchESPN, delivering an average per-minute audience of 347,000 — more than double the traffic for last year's Game 1, according to mercurynews.com.