The WNBA Finals rating are off to their best start in history.
Game 1 of the best-of-seven series against the Golden State Valkyries and Atlanta Dream Saturday, Oct. 17, averaged a 2.1 million viewers on NBC and Peacock. It was the most-watched WNBA Finals Game 1 ever, based on official Nielsen data. Dream-Valkyries is up 11% vs. last year’s Game 1 between the Las Vegas Aces and Phoenix Mercury.
Golden State grinded out a 68-64 victory over Atlanta to hold serve at home in Game 1 at the Chase Center in San Francisco. The Valkyries were led by Gabby Williams, who scored 26 points. Eight other players scored. Their bench was critical, contributing 20 points to the Dream's six.
In its return to WNBA coverage, NBC Sports averaged of 1.8 million viewers
for its seven regular season games on NBC and Peacock, up 35% vs. comparable coverage last season. This is NBC Sports’ first season with WNBA coverage since 2002.
NBC Sports’ WNBA Finals coverage continues with Game 4 from State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Saturday, Oct. 24 (1 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock).
Game 3 and Games 5-7 are on USA Network while being streamed on Peacock.
Here are the top local market viewership ratings for Game 1 of the WNBA Finals between the Dream and Valkyries.
- San Francisco 4.49
- New Orleans 3.04
- Richmond 2.12
- Hartford-New Haven 2.07
- San Antonio 2.06
- Atlanta 2.02
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WNBA Finals ratings: Dream-Valkyries Game 1 sets viewership record
