Sports Ratings Tracker

Thursday’s Fever-Wings WNBA regular season game averaged 1.07 million viewers on Prime Video, marking the streamer’s largest WNBA audience. (Prime carried WNBA games prior to this season, but those were not Nielsen-rated.)

The previous high for Prime came two weeks earlier, when the Aces’ buzzer-beating win over the Fever averaged 948,000.

Prime had another Fever game on Saturday against the Liberty, figures for which will not be available until Tuesday at the earliest.

Tuesday’s Fever-Tempo WNBA regular season game averaged 1.85 million viewers on ESPN, marking the network’s third-largest audience of the season, behind last Sunday’s Fever-Dream game (2.58M) and Fever-Liberty the previous Tuesday (2.01M).

The Dream-Aces lead-out averaged 1.21 million.

Going back to last weekend, CBS averaged a 0.9 and 1.62 million for a potential Finals preview between the Lynx and Aces — marking the largest audience of the season for a game that did not involve Fever G Caitlin Clark.

Tuesday’s Fever-Storm WNBA regular season game averaged 1.4 million viewers on ESPN, trailing only Fever-Aces earlier in the month (1.55M) as the most-watched WNBA game on cable or streaming this season.

Last Tuesday’s Wings-Liberty WNBA regular season game averaged 954,000 viewers on ESPN, marking the third-largest audience of the season on cable or streaming — with the top three coming within four days.

As previously noted, the top two games both involved the Fever — a Sunday night matchup with the Aces on ESPN (1.55M) and Caitlin Clark’s return to the lineup last Wednesday against the Sparks on USA (1.04M).

Indiana also played last Thursday night against the Mercury in a game that averaged 436,000 on Amazon Prime Video. Clark did not play. Storm-Dream led-in with 313,000.

Prime Video is averaging 439,000 viewers for WNBA games this season. The recent Commissioner’s Cup Final between the Aces and Liberty averaged 403,000 on the streamer.

CBS averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.57 million viewers for Sparks-Fever last Saturday night and a 0.9 and 1.53 million for Aces-Sky the following day, marking the fourth and fifth-largest audiences of the WNBA season, and the top two that did not feature Fever G Caitlin Clark.

In a first, four WNBA games aired on a single broadcast network over the same weekend. CBS also averaged a 0.7 and 1.26 million for Lynx-Wings on Sunday, with Mercury-Tempo on Saturday bringing up the rear at 798,000.

On ESPN, Liberty-Valkyries averaged 743,000 in the second edition of “Women’s Sports Sundays.”

Last Thursday’s Dream-Fever WNBA regular season game averaged 816,000 viewers on Amazon Prime Video, the largest WNBA audience yet for the streamer, which is in its first season of carrying Nielsen-rated games.

Atlanta’s win increased 19% from the season’s previous matchup between the teams — and their stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese — which also aired on Prime Video (686K). The teams played again this past weekend on ABC, figures for which will be available Wednesday.

The previous week, the Fever’s matchup against the Sky averaged 736,000 on Prime, part of a doubleheader that averaged 552,000.

Prime Video is now averaging 504,000 viewers for WNBA games this season, and outpacing the linear networks by 33 percent in adults 18-34, and 9% by adults 18-49.

San Antonio led all markets for the NBA Finals, averaging a 25.9 rating for the Spurs’ five-game defeat at the hands of the Knicks. That figure almost certainly trails each of the Spurs’ previous NBA Finals — the market routinely delivered local ratings in the 30s and 40s during those years — albeit in a different era of television (and Nielsen methodology).

The nation’s top market New York ranked second with a 17.5 average rating. Local ratings for the Knicks’ previous Finals in 1999 were unavailable. New York’s previous championship series, the Yankees’ five-game loss to the Dodgers in the 2024 World Series, averaged a 12.2 locally.

Austin, Texas, placed third with a 12.8 rating, and Oklahoma City was the top market outside of Texas and New York with a 12.4.

Other top markets include Richmond, Va., and West Palm Beach, Fla. (9.9 each) and NBA markets Memphis (9.8), Atlanta (9.7), Minneapolis (9.6) and Philadelphia (9.4).

Wednesday’s Tempo-Fever WNBA regular season game averaged 1.00 million viewers on USA Network, marking the largest audience for a WNBA game on cable or streaming this season.

Last Thursday’s Dream-Fever WNBA regular season game, the season’s first meeting between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, averaged 686,000 viewers on Prime Video — the most-watched game of the season on the streamer, but also the least-watched matchup of Clark and Reese (6 total games).

The collegiate rivals only played each other once last season, and four times the previous year. All of those games averaged at least one million.

The full Prime doubleheader averaged 545,000, and the streamer is averaging 446,000 for the season — up slightly from the average for games on linear cable this season (+1%).

As is typical for sports on streaming services, Prime is averaging a younger audience, with a median age of 55.6 — compared to 62.6 for the linear networks. (Note that NBC’s presumably younger-skewing streaming audience is not tracked by Nielsen.)

Amazon Prime Video averaged 549,000 viewers for its May 28 WNBA doubleheader, up considerably from the previous week — when coverage aired opposite the NBA conference finals (161K) — and also up from the streamer’s season debut May 14 (529K).

The doubleheader included Prime’s first Nielsen-rated game involving Caitlin Clark, as the Fever’s matchup against the Valkyries averaged 662,000.

The Fever-Valkyries game averaged 115,000 viewers among adults 18-34, the second-most watched game of the season on any network in that demo. (Note that NBC’s presumably younger-skewing streaming viewership is not tracked by Nielsen.)

Last Saturday’s Fever-Fire WNBA regular season game averaged a 0.8 rating and nearly 1.3 million viewers on CBS, marking the least-watched Fever game on the network since Caitlin Clark was drafted (six total), including two primetime games last season that she missed due to injury. (Note that the five previous games pit Indiana against the New York or Chicago, rather than expansion Portland.)

Keep in mind the game aired directly opposite Game 7 of the NBA Western Conference Finals on NBC, which averaged a combined audience of 15.9 million across Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.

Indiana’s loss, which saw Clark score a season-low six points, was still the most-watched of the three WNBA games on CBS this season. In the same primetime window a week earlier, Sparks-Aces averaged 1.05 million. Earlier that day, Sky-Lynx drew 1.01 million.

The game was also the most-watched of the weekend in the WNBA. NBC averaged 984,000 for Aces-Valkyries on Sunday afternoon across Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.

Last Thursday’s Thunder-Spurs NBA Western Conference Finals Game 6 averaged 11.59 million viewers on NBC across a Nielsen-measured linear audience (9.28M) and streaming viewership tracked by Adobe Analytics (2.32M), marking the largest audience for a conference final Game 6 since Lakers-Kings on NBC in 2002 (16.64M).

Note that changes in Nielsen methodology skew comparisons to past years, particularly those prior to the company including out-of-home viewing in its estimates in 2020.

The Spurs’ series-tying win increased 43% from last year’s lone conference final Game 6, Knicks-Pacers on TNT Sports (8.12M). (NBC’s position is that because Nielsen does not track its streaming viewership, its combined Nielsen + Adobe audience figures are comparable to the Nielsen-only figures of other networks.)

Last weekend’s Wings-Liberty WNBA regular season game averaged 1.3 million viewers on NBC across a Nielsen-estimated linear audience (0.7 rating, 1.19M viewers) and a streaming audience tracked by Adobe Analytics — the second-largest audience of the season, behind Wings-Fever on ABC the opening Saturday of play.

On ION, regional action last Friday night featuring Valkyries-Fever averaged 1.09 million. Caitlin Clark and the Fever have played in the two most-watched games on ION this season, with the previous week’s Mystics-Fever game at 950,000.

In last Friday’s nightcap, Sun-Storm averaged 307,000.

Tuesday’s Spurs-Thunder NBA Western Conference Finals Game 5 averaged a combined 10.24 million viewers on NBC across a Nielsen-estimated linear audience (7.96M) and a streaming audience tracked by Adobe Analytics (2.28M), marking the largest audience for a Game 5 in the conference finals since Celtics-Heat on ESPN in 2012 (10.25M) and the most-watched Game 5 of the WCF since Lakers-Kings on NBC in 2002 (14.59M). It was the first conference final Game 5 on broadcast television since that 2002 postseason.

Note that changes in Nielsen methodology skew comparisons to past years, particularly those prior to the company including out-of-home viewing in its estimates in 2020.

Oklahoma City’s win more-than-doubled last year’s Timberwolves-Thunder Game 5 on ESPN (4.62M).

Through five games, the Western Conference Finals was averaging a combined 9.74 million viewers, still trending as the most-watched WCF on record through five games, and the highest five-game average for any conference final since Heat-Bulls in 2011 (10.41M).

Last Friday’s Thunder-Spurs NBA Western Conference Finals Game 3 averaged a combined 9.03 million viewers on NBC across a Nielsen-measured linear audience (7.03M) and a streaming audience tracked by Adobe Analytics (2.00M), officially ranking as the most-watched conference final Game 3 since Bulls-Heat on TNT in 2011 (10.89M) and the most-watched Game 3 of the West Finals since Kings-Lakers on NBC in 2002 (10.06M).

Oklahoma City’s win increased 72% from the Timberwolves’ 40-point rout of the Thunder on ABC last year (5.26M).

The Thunder-Spurs series was averaging 9.4 million viewers through three games (7.2M per Nielsen, plus 2.2M per adobe Analytics), the highest on record at this point of a Western Conference Finals. Note that changes in Nielsen methodology skew comparisons to past years, particularly those prior to the company including out-of-home viewing in its estimates in 2020.

The debut of Amazon Prime Video’s new WNBA package — Lynx-Wings and Liberty-Fire on May 14 — averaged 529,000 viewers. Prime aired WNBA games prior to this season, but those were simulcasts of local feeds and were not Nielsen-rated.

Compared to last year’s WNBA average on cable, viewership for the Prime doubleheader increased 26%, outside the range that would be explained by Nielsen methodological changes.

As is commonplace for sporting events on streaming services, the gains were particularly pronounced in the young adult demographics, with viewership up triple-digits in adults 18-34 (+156%), 18-49 (+147%) and 25-54 (+106%). Prime had a median age of 53.4 for its two games, compared to 62.3 for WNBA games on linear television last season.

Last Thursday’s Cavaliers-Knicks NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 2 averaged 7.1 million viewers on ESPN, officially the highest for a Game 2 of the East Finals since the LeBron James-era Cavaliers faced the Celtics in 2018 (8.42M).

The Knicks’ win increased 7% from Pacers-Knicks on TNT Sports last year (6.65M), within the margin that can be explained by Nielsen methodological changes of the past year.

In the network’s first WNBA telecast since 2002, NBC averaged 1.24 million viewers for last Saturday’s Aces-Dream WNBA regular season game across Nielsen (0.7 rating, 1.14M viewers) and Adobe Analytics.

Elsewhere, USA Network averaged 676,000 for Fever-Sparks a week ago Wednesday, preceded by Aces-Sun at 343,000. USA was averaging 518,000 for its first three WNBA games this season.

Tuesday’s Lakers-Thunder second round NBA playoff Game 1 averaged 6.8 million viewers on NBC across Nielsen (5.3M) and Adobe Analytics, up a third from a Nielsen-only 5.1 million for Warriors-Timberwolves on TNT an truTV last year.

The Thunder’s win, which peaked with 8.2 million, delivered the third-largest audience of the postseason thus far.

On Monday night, the Knicks’ Game 1 rout of the Sixers averaged 6.3 million (4.93M per Nielsen, plus Adobe Analytics) — up 28% from Knicks-Celtics on TNT Sports last year (4.88M).

Both nights, NBCU carried a second game that aired on Peacock and was not Nielsen-rated (Timberwolves-Spurs on Monday, Cavaliers-Pistons on Tuesday).

On Wednesday night, ESPN averaged 5.2 million for Sixers-Knicks Game 2 and 4.7 million for Timberwolves-Spurs Game 2 — up 13 and 24 percent respectively from last year’s equivalent TNT Sports doubleheader of Knicks-Celtics (4.6M) and Nuggets-Thunder (3.8M).

Monday’s Pistons-Magic first round NBA playoff Game 4 averaged a combined 5.4 million viewers on NBC across Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, up 155% from a Nielsen-only audience of 2.1 million for a non-exclusive Cavaliers-Heat Game 4 on TNT Sports last year.

Viewership also increased 15% from Hawks-Knicks Game 2 in the same Monday night NBC window the prior week.

Later in the night, Timberwolves-Nuggets Game 5 averaged 3.9 million — actually down from Rockets-Warriors on TNT Sports last year (4.0M).

On Tuesday night, Hawks-Knicks Game 5 averaged 3.8 million on NBC, the most-watched game on a night that included a competing NBA doubleheader on ESPN. Last year’s closest equivalent window was Magic-Celtics on NBA TV, which was subject to local blackout and averaged 739,000.

The latest edition of NBC’s NBA “Coast 2 Coast Tuesday” — Spurs-Celtics in most markets and Timberwolves-Lakers on the West Coast — averaged a combined 3.6 million viewers across Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, marking a season-high for NBC’s Tuesday regional window.

The Tuesday night window included a live cut-in to Miami Heat C Bam Adebayo scoring the final points of his 83-point effort — the second-highest point total in NBA history — but figures for that portion of the telecast were not immediately available.

Lakers-Mavericks averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.6 million viewers in last week’s season premiere of ABC’s “NBA Saturday Primetime,” down from a 1.6 and 3.05 million for Warriors-Lakers last year.

Earlier in the night, Knicks-Sixers drew a 1.2 and 2.06 million, up from a 0.9 and 1.5 million for Nuggets-Timberwolves last year. ABC was slated to carry a tripleheader, but the middle game (Warriors-Timberwolves) was postponed.

In other recent NBA action, ESPN on Wednesday averaged 1.88 million for Lakers-Cavaliers and 1.54 million for Spurs-Rockets.

Numbers for the latest NBA on NBC “Coast 2 Coast Tuesday” window were not immediately available, but the prior week’s January 20 slate — Spurs-Rockets in most markets and Lakers-Nuggets on the West Coast — drew a Nielsen-estimated 1.2 and 2.09 million. (Figures including Adobe Analytics, which measures NBC’s streaming viewership, were not immediately available.)

Spurs-Thunder was the most-watched game of the NBA’s five-game Christmas Day schedule with 6.71 million viewers across ABC and ESPN, making it the most-watched game in its midday Christmas window since Cavaliers-Warriors in 2017.

Knicks-Cavaliers led in with 6.37 million, marking the most-watched Noon ET game on Christmas. The previous high was 6.01 million for Spurs-Pistons on ABC in 2005.

Keep in mind that Nielsen did not track out-of-home viewing in its estimates until 2020 and did not do so in 100 percent of markets until earlier this year. In addition, Nielsen shifted to a “Big Data + Panel” methodology in September that adds data from smart TVs and set-top boxes to its traditional panel.

The full five-game Christmas average, plus figures for the remaining three games, will be posted when available.

Last week’s NBA “Coast to Coast Tuesday” slate — Magic-Sixers and Clippers-Lakers — averaged 2.7 million viewers on NBC and Peacock (across both Nielsen and Adobe Analytics), marking the largest group stage audience in the three years of the NBA Cup.

That comes with the caveat that no previous group stage telecast aired on broadcast television, much less in a regionalized format combining early and late windows. (Plus the standard caveats regarding Nielsen methodological changes.)

The following night, ESPN averaged 2.10 million for a Thanksgiving Eve tripleheader, up 54% from a doubleheader last year. Timberwolves-Thunder led the way with 2.43 million (+83%), followed by Rockets-Warriors at 2.03 million (+45%), with Pistons-Celtics leading off at 1.81 million.

Thursday’s ESPN NBA doubleheader averaged 2.07 million viewers, up 53% from the opening Thursday of last season on TNT. That is a bigger year-over-year increase than ESPN had for its season-opening doubleheader the previous night (2.33M, +44%).

While Nielsen this year has expanded its out-of-home viewing sample and shifted to a new “Big Data + Panel” methodology, those changes would not fully explain an increase of that size.

The overtime Nuggets-Warriors game led the way with 2.23 million viewers, up 79% from Thunder-Nuggets on TNT last year (1.25M). The double-overtime Thunder-Pacers NBA Finals rematch led in with 1.98 million, up 37% from last year’s Spurs-Mavericks game (1.45M). (Thunder-Pacers had the bigger peak audience, 2.66 million.)

Neither game hit a multi-year high, as Suns-Lakers drew 2.30 million and Sixers-Bucks 2.04 million on TNT the comparable night in 2023.