The NBA’s purported ratings demise was exaggerated. After a rocky start this season, where viewership dropped approximately 20% year over year, the league made a comeback, ending nearly even with last year’s numbers. According to Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, the national NBA viewership is down just 2% compared to last season across ABC, ESPN, and TNT. However, including NBA TV, which faced a particularly challenging season, this decline rises to 5%, with regular season matches averaging 1.53 million viewers across these networks.
The most significant contributor to the NBA’s ratings recovery was Christmas Day, where the league enjoyed its highest viewership in five years. This was largely due to expanding its ABC schedule from two to five games this season, marking only the second instance where all five games were aired on broadcast television, the first being in 2022. This change alone counteracted nearly all of the NBA’s ratings slump.
Other factors also played a role in the NBA bouncing back from sluggish November and December viewership. A thrilling trade deadline, highlighted by Luka Dončić moving to the Los Angeles Lakers, certainly boosted mid-season interest. As noted by Lewis, games following the trade deadline saw a 16% increase in viewership compared to the average prior to the deadline. This also coincided with Nielsen’s expansion of out-of-home viewing measurements, which have positively impacted live sports ratings since February.
Among the networks, ABC had the best year, with an average of 2.68 million viewers per game, up 10% from last year, aided by the additional Christmas games. Conversely, TNT’s viewership declined by 7% to 1.3 million viewers per telecast in its final year broadcasting NBA games, while NBA TV experienced a sharp 24% drop to 250,000 viewers per game, which significantly lowered the league’s overall average. In comparison, the NBA’s minor decline looks favorable against its peer leagues, with NFL regular-season viewership down 2%, college basketball declining by 7%, and the NHL down by 13%.
Looking ahead, next year marks the beginning of the league’s new 11-year agreements with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon. This stability over the next decade should protect the league from fluctuations in ratings. It is also expected that viewership will rise, given the significant increase in game windows on broadcast networks under the new deal.
