ESPN will offer NBA fans an extra gift on Christmas Day by simulcasting all five games of the league’s traditional holiday schedule on both ABC and the cable network.

The move marks the first time the five games will appear on both The Walt Disney Co.-owned networks in the 21-year history of the programming stunt, with the first game beginning at noon Eastern Time and the last game tipping off at 10:30 pm., said ESPN officials. Last year ABC and ESPN both aired three of five games, with ESPN airing the early afternoon and late night contests. 

Overall, ESPN and ABC averaged 4.1 million viewers for its five-game NBA Christmas Day lineup last year up against stiff competition from NFL games, the lowest audience since the league began its five-game schedule in 2008, according to Sports Business Journal.

“NBA on Christmas is one of the best holiday traditions in sports, and this is a great example of how we view programming more holistically than ever before,” ESPN VP of programming and acquisitions Matt Kenny told Multichannel News. “This is a natural extension of how we continue to optimize platforms across The Walt Disney Co. to better serve fans.”

ESPN and ABC’s Christmas schedule begins with Philadelphia 76ers-New York Knicks at noon (ET), followed by Los Angeles Lakers-Dallas Mavericks at 2:30 p.m.; Milwaukee Bucks-Boston Celtics at 5 p.m.; Memphis Grizzlies-Golden State Warriors at 8 p.m.; and Phoenix Suns-Denver Nuggets at 10:30 p.m. 

“We are thrilled that ABC and ESPN will simulcast all five games on Christmas Day, which is one of the marquee days on the NBA calendar,” NBA president of content and executive producer Gregg Winik said. 

This Christmas Day, the NBA games will compete with three regular-season NFL games on NBC, CBS and Fox, including a primetime matchup on NBC between Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Arizona Cardinals. The NBA is well-positioned to draw in its share of fans on the holiday, Kenny said. 

“There’s never been more competition in the marketplace, whether it's Christmas or otherwise, so we’re really focused on doing the absolute best we can to serve NBA fans on Christmas Day and throughout the season,” he said. ■  

The NBA Friday released the television schedule for the first half of its 2020-21 season, including its Christmas and Martin Luther King Jr. holiday lineup of games.

ESPN and ABC will televise a total of 49 games during the first half of the season, which begins Dec. 22. The schedule includes five Christmas Day games --  New Orleans Pelicans-Miami Heat; Golden State Warriors-Milwaukee Bucks; Brooklyn Nets-Boston Celtics; Dallas Mavericks-Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers-Denver Nuggets. ABC will air five primetime Saturday night games through Feb. 27, beginning Jan. 30 with the Lakers-Celtics game.

TNT will air 36 games through Feb. 27, including a Dec. 22 opening night doubleheader featuring the Warriors and Nets, followed by Lakers-Clippers. TNT’s three-game Martin Luther King Jr. holiday lineup includes Warriors-Lakers, Phoenix Suns-Memphis Grizzlies and Bucks-Nets.

Related: NBA to Start New Season in September

NBA TV will air 61 live games during the first half of the season, beginning with a Dec. 26 tripleheader featuring the Grizzlies-Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers-New York Knicks, Houston Rockets-Portland Trailblazers games. 

The schedule for the second half of the season will be released at a later date, according to the league, which will play a truncated 72 game schedule due to the pandemic. 

Comcast Ventures, the venture capital arm of Comcast Corp., said National Basketball Association player, author and entrepreneur Andre Iguodala has joined its Catalyst Fund as a venture partner.

Iguodala is a three-time NBA champion as a member of the Golden State Warriors and currently plays for the Miami Heat.  He has also served as first vice president of the NBA Players Association. The author of best seller “The Sixth Man,” Iguodala also is a successful entrepreneur and investor, funding more than 40 companies.As an investor and a member of the board of directors for Jumia Technologies, Iguodala helped the company grow and go public in April with a billion-dollar IPO.

The Catalyst Fund was formed in 2011 and has supported more than 70 startups with founders from diverse backgrounds through direct investments, and in partnership with leading accelerator programs. The Fund’s portfolio represents companies from multiple industries and sectors including gaming, DTC products, fintech, and enterprise applications.

“We are thrilled to welcome Andre to the Comcast Ventures team,“ said Comcast Ventures’ Head of Funds and Managing Director Amy Banse in a press release. “Andre’s investment experience and network, coupled with his passion for supporting entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, is a perfect fit for our Catalyst Fund. Together, we can offer early stage companies unique resources for growth, building on our vision of a startup ecosystem full of founders creating technologies for a diverse world.”

Iguodala joins principal Fatima Husain at the Catalyst Fund and will focus investments in companies founded by African American, Latinx, and female entrepreneurs. Husain joined Comcast Ventures in 2019 and was previously a Senior Growth Product Manager at Airbnb.

“I am excited to join the Catalyst and Comcast Ventures teams, which will provide me with the opportunity to advise and work with emerging entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds,” Iguodala said in a press release. “I have admired Comcast NBCUniversal’s commitment to invest in startups with founders who are typically underrepresented in the venture world. Together, we have unique experiences and resources no other venture firm has to help founders grow their companies.”

Fox Sports’ weekend coverage of the U.S. Open golf championship and the FIFA Women’s World Cup capped an impressive five-day run of strong viewership performances for marquee sports telecasts.

Fox broadcasting continued to set soccer telecast milestones with its Sunday afternoon coverage of the US women’s soccer team’s 3-0 win over Chile. The network drew 5.3 million viewers for the game, making it the most-watched English-language soccer telecast in the country since the 2018 FIFA Men's World Cup final in Russia, according to Nielsen.

The telecast was also most-watched, FIFA Women’s World Cup Group Stage match ever in the U.S., according to Fox Sports.

Later that evening, the network moved to the greens for its final round coverage of the US Open golf championship. The network’s primetime coverage of the championship from Pebble Beach, California -- in which Gary Woodland (pictured) took home the prized trophy -- delivered 7.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Overall, 31.7 million viewers watched all or part of the tournament, making it Fox Sports’ most watched U.S. Open ever.

Fox Sports kicked off its U.S. Open coverage this past Thursday (June 13) with FS1 focusing cameras on the play from two groups of golfers -- including Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka -- while Fox Sports handled main coverage duties for the championship. The telecasts drew a combined 3.4 million viewers -- the best first round coverage on a broadcast network since 2002, according to Fox Sports.

RELATED: Fox Takes Swing At Alternative Feed During U.S. Open Golf Event

Also on June 13, ABC concluded its coverage of the Golden State Warriors-Toronto Raptors NBA Finals by drawing more than 18 million viewers to the sixth and final game of the series, won by the Raptors. While ABC’s ratings were hampered by having the Canadian-based Raptors -- the Toronto market is not rated by Nielsen -- in the finals, the network’s game telecasts on the nights aired were the most-watched shows on television, according to Nielsen.

The NBA Finals ended a day after the NHL Stanley Cup finals finished a thrilling Game 7 between the now champion St. Louis Blues and the Boston Bruins by averaging 8.7 million viewers on NBC -- the most watched Nielsen-rated NHL telecast, which dates back to 1994, according to Nielsen.

The high cost of sports programming and the value proposition of sports networks will always be a subject for debate within the industry, but what is indisputable is the ability of marquee sports events to still draw big audiences and, more often than not, score more viewers up against any other content on traditional television.

The National Hockey League and National Basketball Association finals are headed to exciting conclusions this week.

June 12 broadcast network NBC will air the seventh and final game of the NHL Stanley Cup championship between the St. Louis Blues and the Boston Bruins. The game is the first Stanley Cup Game seven to take place since the Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks in 2011.

NBC is hoping to build on its audience for game six, which drew a Total Audience Delivery of 6.6 million—the most viewed game of the series thus far, according to NBC Sports.

Overall, this year’s NHL Stanley Cup finals are averaging 4.8 million viewers, slightly down from the 4.9 million viewers generated by last year’s five-game Washington Capitals-Las Vegas Golden Knights finals, according to Nielsen.

Broadcast network ABC on Thursday will continue its NBA Finals coverage with Game six between the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors are up three games to two, but the Warriors are coming off an emotional win Monday night on the road and will look to even the series at home.

Game five, in which Warriors’ superstar Kevin Durant made his first on the court Finals appearance—only to suffer a serious Achilles injury in the first half—drew a 4.4 rating among adults 18-49, the highest rating for the series so far, according to Nielsen.

If the Warriors win Thursday, ABC will air game seven of the NBA Finals live on Sunday from Toronto.

TNT’s Memorial Day telecast of the Golden State Warriors-Houston Rockets' NBA Western Conference Finals Game 7 was a social media slam-dunk, drawing nearly 4 million social media interactions, according to Nielsen.

The game -- won by the Warriors, who advanced to their fourth straight NBA Finals -- drew 3.8 million Facebook and Twitter interactions to easily best all live sports and entertainment-based programming on television, according to Nielsen’s daily social content ratings report.

NBC’s Washington Capitals-Vegas Golden Knights Game 1 NHL Stanley Cup telecast finished second with 898,000 social media interactions.

Fox broadcasting’s recently cancelled series Lucifer was the most social entertainment-based show on Monday with 666,000 social media interactions, according to Nielsen. 

ESPN AND TNT will tip off their respective National Basketball Association regular-season coverage expecting to build on their ratings performances from last year, despite an earlier tip-off to the campaign.

The season kicks off Oct. 17 — two weeks earlier than usual — in an effort to better schedule games to limit player fatigue and injuries during the season. TNT will offer an opening night doubleheader showcasing the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Boston Celtics along with the Houston Rockets battling last year’s champion, the Golden State Warriors.

The games are part of TNT’s 67-game regular-season NBA schedule, which also features a Christmas Night telecast, its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day tripleheader and its 20-game Tuesday night “Players Only” lineup of games featuring former basketball players in all broadcast roles, according to network officials.

ESPN will begin its 87-game NBA coverage Oct. 18 with a Philadelphia 76ers-Washington Wizards/Minnesota Timberwolves-San Antonio Spurs doubleheader. Combined with sister network ABC’s broadcast schedule, the two Disney-owned networks will offer a company record 104 NBA regular season games.

ESPN executive VP of programming and scheduling Burke Magnus said the network is bullish on the upcoming season, given the number of off-season moves by top teams and players as well as the emergence of a strong crop of rookies.

He also expects that ESPN will surpass the 1.6 million viewers it generated last season despite the early start.

“We’ve been pushing for our efforts around the NBA to be year-round, and with our coverage of the past off-season the league had, in terms of free agent movements, a draft class that hasn’t been seen in many years, the season starting now seems about right to me,” he said.

ABC's Golden State Warriors-Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Finals telecast last night scored big on social media, drawing more than 11 million interactions, according to Nielsen.

ABC's live game telecast, in which the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers to take the first game of the NBA Finals, generated 11.2 million Facebook and Twitter interactions from 4.5 million unique accounts, easily besting all sports and entertainment shows for the day, according to Nielsen’s Social Content Ratings list.  

ESPN’s coverage of the 90th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee was the most discussed entertainment show on Thursday, generating 172,000 social media interactions across 120,000 unique accounts. Two cable new shows, Fox News’ Hannity and MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, were second and third on the daily TV social media list, respectively, according to Nielsen.

TNT heads into its coverage of the NBA All-Star weekend festivities in New Orleans looking to build some ratings momentum heading into the NBA playoffs push. TNT’s  NBA live game coverage -- which includes exclusive Thursday night doubleheader games and a new package of Monday night NBA telecasts -- is averaging 1.7 million viewers thus far this season, on par with last year’s performance.

I caught up with Turner president David Levy prior to his departure to New Orleans to discuss the state of the league going into the All-Star break, as well as the prospects for a strong TNT ratings performance during the second-half of the NBA season.  

MCN: How has the NBA on TNT performed thus far heading into the All-Star Game?

David Levy: The numbers have been pretty good – I believe we’re flat year to year but we added more games on Monday nights. I like the storylines developing with Golden State and Oklahoma City, and I like the fact that Boston and the Clippers are playing a little better; San Antonio is always there, and let’s not forget about LeBron (James) and Cleveland. So I think the NBA is going to be in a really good position, and I think the playoffs are going to be really exiting this year.

MCN: What are your expectations for the All-Star game thig year?

DL: First of all its back in the US [last year’s game in Toronto] -- from a ratings perspective last year wasn’t one of our best rated games. I think it’s going to be a ratings success having it in New Orleans, but I also think there’s interest in the NBA right now. Carmelo Anthony just got in – he’s the commissioner’s pick but some have asked does he deserve to be in? I love to see [former teammates] Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant have to practice with each other on the same team, so I think there are a number of underlying stories that people will look at.

MCN: If the elite teams in the league start to pull away from the pack, do you think that will hurt ratings for TNT’s NBA game telecasts in the second half of the season?

DL: No. I know a lot of people like to say parity is great, but it’s really about brands and strong teams. If we get some exciting [regular-season] games and then some game 7’s in the playoffs, the ratings will be there.

ABC’s NBA Finals Game 7 telecast last night drew more than 30 million viewers, making it the most watched NBA Finals came in 18 years, according to ABC.

The game, in which LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the defending champion Golden State Warriors to win its first NBA title and the city’s first championship since 1964, drew 30.7 million viewers, besting Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz, according to ESPN.

 ABC’s Game 7 viewership peaked with 44.5 million viewers and a 22.5 U.S. rating from 10:30-10:40 p.m. (ET), according to Nielsen.

Overall, the series averaged 20,1 million viewers and an 11.3 U.S. rating for its seven games. The back-to-back Cavaliers-Warriors NBA Finals in 2015 and 2016 are the two-most-watched and highest-ratedNBA Finals ever on ABC, according to ESPN.

The game also drew a whopping 7.4 million Tweets from 1.7 million unique Twitter users, according to Nielsen’s Twitter TV Ratings. The game also generated 96.2 million total minutes streamed and an average minute audience of 598,000 viewers, which is the most for a non-World Cup event ever on WatchESPN, according to the network.

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ big win over the Golden State Warriors in Game Six of the NBA Finals was all the talk on Twitter yesterday, driving more than 3 million tweets according to Nielsen.

ABC’s telecast of the game, in which Cleveland forced a seventh and deciding game for the championship on Sunday, averaged 3.09 million tweets from 889,000 unique Twitter authors to easily top all live sports and entertainment series for June 16, according to Nielsen Twitter TV ratings.

On the ratings front, ABC’s NBA Finals Game 6 averaged a 6.3 among adults 18-49 viewers, up from a 6.0 generated for Game 5, according to Nielsen.

FS1’s coverage of the 2016 Copa America Centenario tournament was a distant second with 261,000 Tweets, said Nielsen.

On the entertainment side, USA Network’s WWE SmackDown! Series was the most tweeted show on television yesterday with 39,000 tweets, followed by Comedy Central’s At Midnight With Chris Hardwick with 21,000 tweets, the season four finale of BBC America’s Orphan Black (19,000 tweets), Fox News Channel’s Hannity (8,000) and CW’s Beauty and The Beast (7 million).

TNT’s Memorial Day telecast of the Golden State Warriors-Oklahoma City Thunder Western Conference Finals Game 7 garnered a network record 15.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen Fast Nationals ratings.

The game, won by the Warriors to advance to the NBA Finals, bested the 14.1 million viewers TNT drew with a September 1995 Dallas Cowboys-Minnesota Vikings National Football League telecast, according to network officials.

TNT's 15.9 million viewers is also the biggest audience for an NBA game on cable, topping the 13.3 million viewers garnered for ESPN's June 2012 Boston Celtics-Miami Heat Eastern Conference Finals telecast, according to Nielsen. 

The game was also the most watched non-finals NBA telecast on broadcast on cable since the 2000 Los Angeles Lakers-Portland Trail Blazers Game 7 Western Conference Finals. Overall, the Warriors-Thunder series averaged 9.9 million viewers over seven games to top all Western Conference Finals coverage on cable television, according to TNT.

Additionally, TNT’s Inside the NBA garnered a 4.8 HH rating, the show’s highest overnight delivery ever, according to TNT.

TNT’s playoff coverage over 42 games averaged 4.7 million viewers, up 16% over last year’s NBA post-season coverage, the network said.

The Golden State Warriors’ comeback win against the Oklahoma City Thunder in game six of the NBA Western Conference finals last night drew a playoffs-best 10.8 million viewers, TNT reported Sunday.

The game, which tied the best of seven series at three games each, was the most viewed and highest-rated Conference Finals Game 6 of all time, according to Turner.

Last night’s Thunder/Warriors telecast was also up 33% in total viewers when compared with 2014, the last time TNT televised the Western Conference Finals (Oklahoma City vs. San Antonio). This year’s coverage of the Western Conference Finals Game 6 also generated double-digit audience growth across all key demos, said network officials.

Game seven of the Warriors/Thunder series will air tomorrow night at 9 p.m.

ABC’s Billboard Music Awards easily bested HBO’s Game of Thrones on the social media battlefield Sunday night {May 22), according to Nielsen.

Audiences sung the praises of the annual awards show on Twitter, generating 1.7 million tweets from 495,000 unique Twitter authors to top all shows for the day, according to Nielsen’s daily Twitter TV ratings report.

HBO’s Game of Thrones episode generated 307,000 tweets, followed by the WWE Network/pay-per-view distributed WWE Extreme Rules event, which tallied 268,000 tweets to finish third.

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s thrashing of the Golden State Warriors in game three of the NBA’s Western Conference finals playoff telecast on TNT drew 648,000 tweets from 281,000 unique Twitter users to finish first among all live sports events for the day, according to Nielsen.

NBA fans are still arguing over which of last night's season-ending NBA games was more thrilling: the Stephen Curry-led Golden State Warriors’ record setting 73rd regular season win over the Memphis Grizzlies, or Kobe Bryant’s spectacular 60-point performance in his final NBA game.

Not up for debate is the fact that ESPN was a big ratings winner in arguably the most exciting final night of any NBA regular season in recent memory. The 24-hour sports network carried both games – Golden State-Memphis on ESPN and Los Angeles Lakers-Utah Jazz on ESPN2 – and drew more than 7 million viewers combined for games that began at 10:30 p.m. on the East Coast.

Golden State's win over Memphis, led by Curry’s remarkable 46 point effort – which included 10 three-pointers, giving Curry an unfathomable record of 402 three-pointers for the season – drew 3.6 million viewers last night according to Nielsen.

Bryant’s final pro game proved to be one for the ages, and an average of 3.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the Black Mamba ride off into the sunset in grand fashion, singlehandedly leading his Lakers to victory for the last time.

TNT, ESPN, NBA TV and ABC are all hoping the positive momentum generated from Wednesday's late-night games will translate into strong ratings performances for the first round of the NBA playoffs, which begin on Saturday.

NBA TV’s Sunday night telecast of the Golden State Warriors’ record-tying win over the San Antonio Spurs set an all-time ratings record for the network.

The Warriors win over the Spurs, which gave the Warriors a record-tying 72 NBA regular-season wins, averaged 2.6 million viewers, according to network officials. The game nearly doubled the previous mark of 1.4 million viewers set by the Jan. 25 Spurs/Warriors game.

On the social media front, content across NBA TV, NBA on TNT and NBA.com accounts on Sunday generated more than 35 million social impressions, 57% higher than the comparable day last year, according to network officials.

The undefeated, NBA world champion Golden State Warriors are helping NBA TV garner slam dunk ratings during the first month of the season.

The network has aired five Warriors games so far this season, including Tuesday night’s Warriors-Indiana Pacers contest, which drew 823,000 viewers – the network’s most viewed game of the season and fourth most watched of all time among regular season NBA telecasts, according to network officials.

The Warriors-Pacers “Fan Night” game is also tops all time for the network among men 18-34 (273,000 viewers) and Men 18-49 (428,000 viewers).  

Overall, the network is averaging 310,000 viewers for the 2015-16 season, up 3% from the 2014-15 season to date, according to network officials.

Coming off record ratings and ad sales for its postseason Major League Baseball telecasts, Turner is now pacing ahead of last season in its NBA telecast sales as the season opens on Tuesday night with a TNT doubleheader.

TNT, which will again televise 53 NBA games this season, has currently sold 5% more TV commercial ad volume for the season than it sold last year at this point. And NBA TV, which Turner also sells, is pacing 12% ahead of last season’s ad sales. NBA.com, which Turner also manages and sells, is currently pacing 46% more in ad volume compared to last season.

Jon Diament, executive VP of Turner Sports ad sales & marketing, said he finds the numbers exceptional because last season just prior to the start of the telecast schedule, TNT had sold more ad inventory than it had since it began televising NBA games 30 years ago. Now those totals are being surpassed.

“Last season we had the major storyline of LeBron James moving from the Miami Heat to the Cleveland Cavaliers and everything surrounding that, and it turned out to be one of our strongest seasons ever,” he said. “So for us to be pacing ahead of that is really pretty good.”

And much like last season, it’s not really the ratings that are driving marketers to jump into the NBA in a big way. Despite James and the success he had in driving the Cavaliers into the NBA Finals, regular season ratings were stifled a bit by the poor seasons had by teams in some of the largest markets from teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and New York Knicks.

Just how much of an impact did those teams’ games have on TNT’s ratings? The network’s games involving the Celtics declined 42% in the ratings from the previous season. Its Knicks telecasts fell 19%, and its Laker outings declined 13%.

TNT, despite those ratings declines by some once marquee teams, held steady in its overall viewership last season, averaging 2 million viewers for its Thursday night games; for its complete 53-game regular season schedule, it averaged 1.9 million viewers, down just 100,000 from the 2014-15 season. Much of that was boosted by Cavaliers and (eventual champion) Golden State Warriors telecasts, among others. But live sports events, including NBA games, continue to be a major draw for advertisers.

Diament said the NBA games are not only live and DVR-proof, for the most part, but the audience is younger than both the NFL and college football audiences and is a better target for millennial consumers. Additionally, the fourth quarter is a time when many marketers want to reach consumers for the upcoming holidays, and the Thursday night games are particularly attractive tofor targeting weekend shoppers.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

The defending NBA World champion Golden State Warriors will get plenty of national television exposure this season as the team will appear more than 30 times in live regular season game telecasts on TNT, ESPN, ABC and NBATV.

TNT will tip off its 53-game, 2015-16 NBA regular season telecast schedule Oct. 27 with a doubleheader telecast featuring the Warriors against the New Orleans Pelicans, as well as a LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers matchup with the Chicago Bulls, said network officials.

The network will also showcase a primetime doubleheader on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day ( Jan. 18) featuring a Warriors-Cavaliers NBA Finals rematch, along with a Los Angeles Clippers-Houston Rockets telecast. Overall, the Warriors will appear 10 times on TNT along with the Bulls and the Clippers, according to TNT officials.

The Warriors will also appear on ESPN and ABC 15 times, including in a Dec. 25 NBA Finals rematch with the Cavaliers -- one of five Christmas Day NBA live game telecasts between ESPN and sister broadcast network ABC, according to ESPN.  The cable sports network will kick off its regular season coverage Oct. 28 with a San Antonio Spurs-Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves-Los Angeles Lakers doubleheader telecast.

ABC will launch its new Saturday night package of games Jan. 23 with a Bulls-Cavaliers telecast.  Overall ABC and ESPN will televise 90 games during the 2015-16 NBA season.

NBA TV will televise a network record 31 doubleheaders and one tripleheader as part of its live NBA season coverage, including nine appearances by the Warriors and league MVP Stephen Curry, said network officials.

Outpointing the Houston Rockets by 15 in the fourth quarter, the Golden State Warriors extended their franchise-best winning streak to 14 games and scored the biggest rating ever for a regional sports network covering the club's regular-season action.

Comcast SportsNet Bay Area netted a 6.43 household rating in the San Francisco-Oakland DMA with its Dec. 10 telecast of the Warriors' 105-93 win over the Rockets, according to Nielsen data. RSN officials said that delivery marked the higest-rated Warriors regular season telecast on CSN or Fox Sports Net in the market.

Wednesday night's contest ranks as the highest-rated locally produced regular season game in the DMA since Feb. 7,1995, when a Warriors-Bulls game, featuring Michael Jordan, aired on KPIX Channel 5, said CSN officials.

Peaking at a 7.37 rating in the 9:30 p.m. (PT) quarter hour, CSN Bay Area recorded an 82% jump over the Warriors' season-to-date average, as the team, led by its sterling backcourt tandem of Stephon Curry (pictured) and Klay Thompson, improved its NBA-best record to 19-2.

The  game was the market's highest-rated program in all of television among households, adults 18 to 49 (3.60), adults 25 to 54 (4.07), men 18 to 49 (4.84) and 25 to 54 (5.72) on Wednesday.