With an entire nation behind them, the Toronto Raptors are NBA champions after defeating the Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 of the NBA FINALS last night on TSN, CTV, and RDS. Fan support for the team’s historic NBA championship run was at an all-time high, as preliminary data from Numeris confirms that Thursday night’s Game 6 attracted an average audience of 7.7 million viewers on TSN, CTV, and RDS, making it the most-watched NBA game on record in Canada and the biggest English-language television broadcast in three years.
A record 15.9 million unique Canadian viewers – 44% of Canada’s population – tuned in to watch some part of the game. Audiences peaked at nearly 10 million viewers (9.99 million) at 11:47 p.m. ET in the game’s final minute. Fans took the opportunity to celebrate alongside the team, as TSN and CTV’s post-game coverage attracted an average audience of 6.5 million viewers.
In Toronto and Hamilton, the game had a share of 82% on TSN and CTV, meaning that 82% of all people watching television in Toronto and Hamilton on Thursday night were tuned in to the game. This represents the highest audience ever in that market, excluding the Olympics.
TSN’s official social media accounts also garnered significant engagement during Game 6, with 12.5 million views on Twitter and 4.4 million views on Instagram.
Additionally, TSN’s live streaming coverage of Game 6 attracted 143,000 video starts across the network’s digital platforms, including TSN.ca and the TSN app. This represents the second-highest total for any event on TSN, behind only last year’s FIFA WORLD CUP™ semi-final between England and Croatia.
The Raptors have soared to record audiences throughout the 2019 NBA playoffs. Not only were this year’s NBA FINALS the most-watched Raptors playoff series ever on TSN, but the Eastern Conference Final vs. the Milwaukee Bucks was the second most-watched Raptors playoff series ever on TSN.
TSN’s coverage of the Toronto Raptors’ NBA championship caps off the network’s eight months of Raptors coverage, including 41 regular season games and record-breaking coverage throughout the team’s championship run. The 2018-19 season was one for the ages, as it was the most-watched Raptors regular season ever on TSN, and produced the most-watched regular season NBA game ever in Canada (DeMar DeRozan’s return to Toronto on Feb. 22). This was the third consecutive season of continued growth for the Raptors on TSN, with audiences up +82% vs. the 2015-16 season.?
