Despite starting at 12:30 PM ET on a weekday, Game 6 of the WNBA Finals averaged an audience in line with the primetime games earlier in the series.
Thursday’s Valkyries-Dream WNBA Finals Game 6 averaged 1.5 million viewers, per a combination of Nielsen panel-only estimates for USA Network, E! and SyFy and Adobe Analytics-measured streaming data on Peacock — the fifth-largest WNBA Finals audience ever on cable, pending final results. (The official Nielsen “Big Data + Panel” figures for Game 6 will not be available until Monday at the earliest.)
Again pending final results, the weekday matinee actually outdrew the primetime Game 2 (1.33M) and Game 5 (1.43M), both of which aired opposite NFL “Monday Night Football.” (Game 5 also faced Game 3 of the World Series.)
Including a primetime encore presentation that aired in the game’s originally-scheduled 8 PM ET timeslot, Atlanta’s series-tying win averaged 1.7 million.
Game 6 was originally scheduled to air in a Thursday night window, but was moved up to at 12:30 PM ET start to ensure the Dream could play in Atlanta’s State Farm Arena. All three Dream home games had to be rescheduled during the WNBA Finals, as the arena had previously booked a concert and multiple Hawks games on nights the WNBA Finals was scheduled to take place. (State Farm Arena is not currently the Dream’s home venue, though that will change next season.)
Game 4 last Saturday was moved up two hours from 3:30 PM ET to 1 PM, averaging 1.895 million on NBC (down from 2.06 million for Game 1 the previous Saturday, which aired in the originally scheduled mid-afternoon slot.)
Game 3 actually benefited from the scheduling change, as its move from Thursday to Wednesday allowed the game to both remain in primetime and avoid football competition. Not surprisingly, it ranks as the most-watched of USA Network games this series with 1.71 million.
Valkyries-Dream was just the latest weekday afternoon sporting event of consequence. Game 3 of the Rays-Guardians MLB American League Championship Series was moved up to a 1 PM ET start due to weather and averaged 2.21 million across TBS and truTV. The opening game of the NBA season, Celtics-Pistons, aired in a 3 PM ET window and averaged 2.52 million on NBC and Peacock (combining Nielsen and Adobe Analytics).
Beyond the novelty of the weekday afternoon timeslot, Game 6 was also the first of its kind in any WNBA playoff series, as the league only began using a best-of-seven format for its title round last season. Game 7 will also be a first in league history, and is airing as scheduled Saturday night at 8 PM ET on USA, CNBC and Peacock.
