Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James brought the USA more than just an Olympic gold medal.
They also achieved enormous viewership.
NBC said Sunday that the U.S. basketball team’s thrilling 98-87 victory over France averaged 19.5 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, based on rapid national data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. The company said it was the most-watched gold medal game since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The game peaked at 22.7 million viewers between 5:00 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. ET in the final quarter of play.
It was the fifth consecutive gold medal for the United States in basketball. The gold medal game represented a huge increase in viewership compared to the finals in Tokyo (9.3 million) and Rio (11.7 million).
“We’re having our moment,” James said after the win. “It’s a basketball world. Everyone loves the game. We just hope we continue to inspire people around the world.”
The U.S.-France meeting was also the most streamed event of the Paris Olympics on NBCU’s digital platforms, with an average viewership of 2.7 million per minute.
NBC also announced the viewership figures for the women’s soccer gold medal match on Sunday: The US women’s national team’s 1-0 victory over Germany was watched by an average of around 9.0 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, making it the most-watched soccer gold medal match since the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
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(Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
