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The NBA drew a ton of criticism after double-digit viewership declines through the first two months of the season, but with the campaign wrapped up, the league still finished close to equal with last year.
The 2024–2025 NBA regular season averaged 1.53 million viewers on ABC, ESPN, and TNT, a 2% decline from last year’s 1.56 million average, a source told Front Office Sports.
While the NBA’s regular-season viewership numbers have hovered around the 1.5 million to 1.6 million mark for the last four years, these numbers are still down from the end of the last decade, anchored by the rivalry of the Steph Curry–led Warriors and LeBron James–led Cavaliers.
The NBA’s viewership decline this year, however, is similar to the trend seen across many major sports leagues. The NFL saw a similar 2% decline for its 2024 season, while the NHL is down about 13% this year despite a successful 4 Nations Face-Off and Alexander Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record.
The NBA’s slight viewership dip can be tied to cord-cutting and declining cable audiences. Games airing exclusively on ESPN saw a 7% decline, but ESPN networks were flat overall due to 24 simulcasts with ABC. TNT games dropped by 8%. ABC pulled up the viewership numbers by averaging 2.68 million viewers across 24 games, a 10% increase compared to last year.
Christmas Day was a turning point in the NBA’s season despite competition from the NFL. The NBA’s five-game slate averaged 5.32 million viewers, an 87% increase from last year. It helped that all five games were on ABC compared to two the prior year, though it still outpaced the 2023 Christmas games that were also all aired on ABC.
NBA viewership numbers may drastically change next year as the league’s new 11-year, $77 billion media-rights deal with ESPN, NBCUniversal, and Amazon Prime kicks in. NBC provides a second free-to-air channel for the NBA to broadcast its games, but many more games will fall behind a streaming paywall with Prime Video and Peacock.
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