Statistically the best regular season matchup in NBA history, Warriors/Spurs more than held its own opposite the NCAA Tournament.
Saturday’s Warriors/Spurs NBA regular season game drew a 3.1 final rating and 5.2 million viewers on ABC, up 82% in ratings and 101% in viewership from Thunder/Spurs the previous week (1.7, 2.6M) and up 158% and 177%, respectively, from Rockets/Bulls two weeks prior (1.2, 1.9M).
The Spurs’ win, which peaked at 7.1 million viewers from 10:45-11 PM ET, ranks as the highest rated NBA game opposite the NCAA Tournament in fourteen years — since Lakers/Kings on NBC in 2002 (3.3). The previous high over that span was a 2.4 for Lakers/Spurs on ABC in March 2003. ABC’s lone game opposite the tournament last season, Rockets/Wizards on a Sunday afternoon, had a 1.0 rating and 1.3 million viewers.
Despite the strong performance, the NBA actually lost its head-to-head matchup with the NCAA. Games on CBS, TNT and TBS combined for 12.0 million viewers Saturday night, including 6.2 million alone for Kansas/Connecticut on CBS.
For the season, Warriors/Spurs ranks fourth in ratings and viewership behind Cavaliers/Warriors (5.7, 11.2M) and Bulls/Thunder (3.2, 5.9M) on Christmas Day and Warriors/Thunder last month (3.2, 5.2M). Golden State has now played in six of the nine most-watched games this season. Excluding Christmas, viewership was the second-highest for the NBA regular season in the past three years.
(Sat. numbers from ESPN Media Zone, with additional info via ShowBuzz Daily)
