Not only did LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers make the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history to dethrone the Golden State Warriors, they broke viewership, social media and souvenir sales records as well.
The NBA on Tuesday announced that the epic seven-game series was the US’ most watched NBA championship final since 1998, when Michael Jordan won the last of his six career crowns, as well as the most-viewed NBA game ever on digital platforms in China.
US telecaster ABC averaged 20.215 million viewers per game, its best-ever figures, with the thrilling series showdown luring an average of 31.018 million viewers, peaking at 44.807 million viewers to become the third-most-watched NBA game on record.
Photo: AP
In China, an NBA Finals-record 65.9 million total viewers watched the series live on Tencent’s digital assets, with Game 7’s 15.3 million viewers a record for any NBA game in China on digital platforms. Across social media, the NBA Finals sparked a record 5.2 billion impressions and 800 million video views.
Game 7 of the finals induced 337,000 Twitter postings per minute, the top-tweeted moment in finals history and most-tweeted US sports moment so far this year.
The Cavaliers-Warriors showdown was the most-talked about NBA Finals ever on Facebook, with a record 43 million people posting, liking, sharing and commenting more than 269 million times.
On Vine, the NBA ranked No. 1 last week among all accounts with 76.5 million loops.
NBA.com and the NBA App recorded a record 1.9 billion page views and 1.4 billion video views respectively, eclipsing the respective previous records of 1.1 billion and 400 million set during last year’s NBA Finals.
A free NBA emoji app unveiled during the finals ranked first in the sports section of the App Store and NBA Finals-related emojis were used more than 800,000 times.
The NBA online store generated record-breaking merchandise sales, up almost 50 percent from last year’s record totals.
While British star Jack Draper spent the past week trying to find rhythm and comfort in his first grass tournament of the season at the Queen’s Club Championships in London, Jiri Lehecka on Saturday bulldozed everything in his path. After more than two furious hours of battle, their form was reflected in the final scoreline as Lehecka toppled a frustrated Draper, the second seed, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to reach the biggest final of his career, against Carlos Alcaraz. Lehecka is also the first Czech to reach the men’s title match at Queen’s since Ivan Lendl lifted the trophy in 1990. Draper, who
REUNION: Former Barcelona players Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Miami coach Javier Mascherano are to face their former coach Luis Enrique Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi faces a tantalizing reunion with former club Paris Saint-Germain in the FIFA Club World Cup last 16 after both sides on Monday progressed to the knockout phase. Miami drew 2-2 with Palmeiras to go through second in Group A, after the Brazilian side fought back from two goals down to seal top spot. They now face an all-Brazil clash against Botafogo, who lost 1-0 to Atletico Madrid, but progressed from Group B in second at the expense of the Spaniards. Champions of Europe PSG won the group with a 2-0 victory over Seattle Sounders, paving the
Dale Earnhardt Jr might already be NASCAR’s most popular crew chief. He is certainly an undefeated one. Pressed into unexpected service, Earnhardt on Saturday called the shots for 18-year-old prospect Connor Zilisch in the No. 88 Chevrolet, as they landed in victory lane in the second-tier Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway. “It felt good to have some input and decisionmaking power,” Earnhardt said. “And then helping Connor understand what our plan was so he knew when to push and what he was expected to do.” Earnhardt — who won NASCAR’s most-popular driver award 15 times — made a pit stop from his
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
RSS