After two years in the cellar, the Warriors’ return to contention is lifting NBA ratings.
Tuesday’s Warriors-Nets NBA regular season game averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.29 million viewers on TNT, trailing only Warriors-Lakers on Opening Night (1.9, 3.39M) as the highest rated and most-watched game of the season.
Golden State’s easy win nearly tripled the comparable Thursday night window in 2019 (Blazers-Bucks: 0.49, 777K).
The Warriors’ previous nationally televised game, against Chicago on ESPN last Friday night, averaged a 1.15 and 1.96 million — up 28% in ratings and 40% in viewership from 2019 (Celtics-Warriors: 0.9, 1.42M) and the fifth-largest audience of the season.
Golden State has played in three of the top five, five of the top eight, and six of the top 11 games thus far.
In other action, Tuesday’s Sixers-Jazz nightcap averaged 1.26 million viewers on TNT — up 75% from the comparable Thursday night game in ’19 (Pelicans-Suns: 723K).
TNT is averaging 1.6 million viewers for its Tuesday night NBA games thus far, up 54% from the comparable Thursday night windows in ’19 (1.1M). Overall, TNT NBA viewership is up 16% from the same point in 2019.
Rounding out the recent NBA action, ESPN averaged a 0.7 and 1.18 million for Bucks-Celtics last Friday night — flat in ratings and 8% in viewership from 2019 (Jazz-Grizzlies: 0.7, 1.09M).
Most-watched NBA games this season
Through November 16
[Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 11.17, network PR]
