TV Ratings: Warriors-Kings Most Watched Game On Opening Saturday Of Playoffs Since 1997

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Randall Benton

While the NBA has had problems with its TV ratings for a while now, things got worse at an alarmingly bad rate in recent years.

In the last two years however, things have started to look better again. This trend is something that continues in these playoffs so far. The opening weekend of the NBA Playoffs averaged 4.15 million viewers, which not only is an increase of 3% from last year, but also the highest mark since 2011. 

The Sacramento Kings’s first playoff game in 16 years especially drew viewers in front of their televisions. Game 1 against the defending champions out of neighboring San Francisco had a 3.2 rating and 6.26 million viewers on ABC – a 32% increase in ratings and 38% in viewership from Nuggets-Warriors last year.

These numbers also add up to the game becoming the most-watched game on the opening Saturday of the playoffs since a game between the Charlotte Hornets and New York Knicks in 1997.