San Antonio's 122-115 double-overtime win over Oklahoma City drew 9.2 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, making it the most-watched Game 1 in Western Conference finals history. The audience peaked at 12 million during the second overtime, with 6.9 million watching on NBC alone — the most-viewed television program that night.

This surge reflects the NBA's first-year media rights deal paying dividends. First two rounds averaged 4.5 million viewers per game, the highest since 1997 and a 16% jump from last year. NBC, airing games for the first time since 2002, handled 21 of 28 first- and second-round games and averaged 5.8 million viewers. Nielsen's updated Big Data methodology also accounts for some of the increase.

Prime Video joined the viewership push too. Sunday's Cleveland-Detroit Game 7 averaged 6.53 million, giving Amazon its first top spot on Nielsen's weekly sports ratings. With the Knicks rallying from 22 down to win 115-104 in overtime on ESPN, both conference finals are drawing record crowds. The Spurs-Thunder series is the first entire conference final on network TV.