A thrilling chapter of the LeBron James-Stephen Curry rivalry delivered one of the NBA’s top audiences in recent years.
Saturday’s double-overtime Lakers-Warriors NBA regular season game averaged a 2.2 rating and 3.97 million viewers on ABC, marking the league’s largest regular season audience — outside of Christmas and the In-Season Tournament — since Blazers-Lakers on ESPN in January 2020 (4.41M). Excluding that anomalous game, the Lakers’ first since the passing of Kobe Bryant days earlier, it was the most-watched since Warriors-Celtics in January 2019 (4.29M). (Keep in mind out-of-home viewing was not included in Nielsen final nationals until mid-2020.)
The Lakers’ win, which peaked with 5.24 million viewers, increased a tick in ratings and 8% in viewership from an equally memorable Lakers-Celtics overtime game last year (2.1, 3.69M). The ninth-place, .500 Lakers have played in six of the 11 most-watched NBA games this season, more than any other team.
All three games of ABC’s Saturday tripleheader increased over last season. Despite the absence of Joel Embiid, which spoiled what would have been a matchup of the reigning league and NBA Finals MVPs, Sixers-Nuggets averaged a 1.4 and 2.62 million — up 7% from Knicks-Nets a year ago (1.3, 2.45M) and the fifth-largest audience of the season.
Heat-Knicks led in with a 1.1 and 1.78 million, up 5% and 2% respectively from Nuggets-Sixers a year ago (1.0, 1.76M). The full tripleheader averaged 2.92 million, up 8% from last year.
The NBA games were the three most-watched sporting events of the day. Placing fourth, final round coverage of the PGA Tour event at Torrey Pines averaged a 1.0 and 1.59 million on CBS — down a whopping 43% and 40% respectively from last year (1.3, 2.20M) and easily the lowest rated and least-watched final round of the event in at least a decade.
College basketball topped out at a 0.8 and 1.48 million for Kentucky-Arkansas on ESPN, preceded by Clemson-Duke at a 0.7 and 1.31 million and North Carolina-FSU at a 0.6 and 1.12 million. Last year’s equivalent windows were Texas-Tennessee (0.7, 1.35M), Arkansas-Baylor (0.6, 1.15M) and Alabama-Oklahoma (0.65, 1.12M). CBS led the broadcast TV slate with a 0.7 and 1.24 million for Kansas-Iowa State, down from Cincinnati-Houston last year (0.7, 1.29M), while FOX drew a 0.6 and 972,000 for Indiana-Illinois, a 0.37 and 596,000 for Georgetown-Providence and a 0.33 and 596,000 for Arizona-Oregon.
In women’s action, FOX drew a 0.47 and 779,000 for a primetime matchup of Notre Dame and UConn — down from an Ohio State-Indiana men’s game last year (0.54, 1.03M), but ahead of the competing LSU-Alabama men’s game on ESPN at a 0.41 and 764,000. Earlier in the day, Nebraska-Iowa drew a 0.25 and 421,000 on BTN, the largest regular season women’s audience ever on the network and ahead of the Iowa men’s matchup against Michigan on FS1 later in the day (0.23, 399K).
Jannik Sinner’s comeback win over Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open men’s final averaged a 0.37 and 528,000 viewers on ESPN, up from a three-set Novak Djokovic-Stefanos Tsitsipas match last year (439K).
Finally, the Pegasus World Cup horse race averaged a 0.7 and 1.06 million on NBC, flat and down 4% respectively from last year (0.7, 1.10M); NBC’s portion of the IMSA 24 hours of Daytona had a 0.36 and 622,000; X Games coverage on ABC drew a 0.51 (-6%) and 832,000 (-4%).
Saturday, January 27 sports ratings
