NBC and Peacock Deliver Most-Watched WNBA Finals Game 1 Ever

Game 1 of the 2026 WNBA Finals between the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries on Saturday, Oct. 17, averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 2.1 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, making it the most-watched WNBA Finals Game 1 ever, based on official Nielsen Big Data + Panel and digital data from Adobe Analytics. Dream-Valkyries is up 11% vs. last year’s Game 1.

Led by Gabby Williams’ 26 points, Golden State’s 68-64 win over Atlanta peaked at 3.0 million viewers for the game’s exciting conclusion from 5:45 – 5:55 p.m. ET. Dream-Valkyries was the first WNBA Finals game presented by NBC Sports since Aug. 31, 2002.

The 1997 winner-take-all championship game averaged 2.85 million on NBC. The WNBA adopted a championship series format in 1998.

Below are the top local market viewership ratings for Game 1 of the WNBA Finals between the Dream and Valkyries.

In its return to WNBA coverage, NBC Sports averaging a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) 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’ coverage of Game 1 of the WNBA Semifinals between the Valkyries and the Las Vegas Aces on Oct. 4 averaged 1.12 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, making it the third-most-watched Semifinals Game 1 ever.

NBC Sports’ WNBA Finals coverage continues with Game 4 from State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Ga., on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 1 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. WNBA Showtime on-site studio coverage will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Game 3 and Games 5-7 will see Peacock simulstream USA Network’s coverage produced by Versant’s USA Sports.