In the NBA’s earliest game on broadcast television in 20 years, Stephen Curry and the Warriors helped ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime to a multiyear high.
Warriors-Sixers averaged a 1.7 rating and 3.07 million viewers in the season premiere of ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime, marking the largest audience for the network’s Saturday night series since the same matchup in March 2019 (3.63M).
Philadelphia’s win, which peaked with 3.55 million from 10:45-11 PM ET, ranks as ABC’s most-watched regular season game outside of Christmas since Lakers-Clippers on March 8, 2020 — three days before the NBA postponed its season (3.62M).
Saturday marked the NBA’s earliest season debut on broadcast television since the 2001-02 season, when NBC added a pair of early season Wizards games after Michael Jordan came out of retirement.
Compared to last season’s NBA Saturday Primetime debut, Lakers-Celtics on the final weekend of January, Warriors-Sixers increased a tick in ratings (from 1.6) and 12% in viewership (from 2.74M). Compared to the previous season debut, Lakers-Rockets on Martin Luther King Day weekend in 2020, ratings fell 10% (from 1.9) but viewership increased 5% (from 2.92M).
For the season, Saturday’s game ranks second in viewership behind only Warriors-Lakers on Opening Night (3.39M). Golden State has now played in the four most-watched games all season, five of the top six, seven of the top nine and eight of the top 11. All 11 of the Warriors games on ESPN, ABC or TNT thus far this season rank among the top 20.
Locally, the game drew a 12.1 rating in the Bay Area — the market’s highest for a regular season game on ABC since the previously noted March 2019 game against the Sixers — and a 6.0 in Philadelphia.
In other recent NBA action, ESPN drew a 0.85 and 1.43 million for Celtics-Suns Friday night — up 1% in ratings and 15% in viewership from Clippers-Timberwolves in 2019 (0.84, 1.24M). Nets-Hawks drew a 0.7 and 1.26 million earlier in the night, down 39% and 30% respectively from Lakers-Heat in ’19 (1.2, 1.81M).
Most-watched NBA games of season so far (through 12/11)
Warriors games highlighted.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 12.14, network PR]
