Big audiences on Christmas Day helped ESPN’s NBA viewership narrative do a complete 180.
According to ESPN PR, the network’s NBA programming is up 5% versus this time last year — completely bucking the onslaught of criticism the league has faced for its poor ratings up to this point. That increase, however, comes with a significant number of caveats.
Predictably, the NBA’s Christmas Day audience skyrocketed versus last season. The league’s five game holiday slate averaged 5.33 million viewers, up a whopping 87% from last year’s games. That increase, however, was pretty easy to see coming for those that were paying attention.
Last year’s Christmas Day slate of NBA games featured just two simulcasts on ABC, ESPN’s broadcast television presence. This year, all five NBA games were simulcast on ABC, giving the league substantially more reach.
The NBA also faced much stiffer competition from the NFL on Christmas Day 2023 versus 2024. Last year, the NFL aired three games on the holiday, dominating programming from the early afternoon well into nighttime on the East Coast. Those three games all aired on broadcast networks. This year, the NFL aired just two games, both on Netflix, leaving the NBA as the only live sport on broadcast television for the entire day.
Given the circumstances, it’d be majorly concerning if the NBA didn’t see massive viewership increases on Christmas Day this year.
However, the increase was enough to pull ESPN’s NBA viewership from double-digit declines year-over-year prior to Christmas Day to a modest increase headed into 2025.
It’s important to note, year-to-date viewership comparisons for high-volume leagues like the NBA, NHL, and MLB are largely a proxy of how tentpole events do year-over-year. For the NBA, that means Opening Night, the NBA Cup Finals, Christmas Day, and the All-Star game largely dictate how ratings comparisons look year-to-date. A big Christmas can turn water into wine for ESPN. And when looking at percentages, last year’s poor Christmas viewership is just as important as this year’s strong audience.
Will these new figures change how people are viewing the NBA ratings story this season? Considering that ESPN has issued two separate press releases largely touting the same figures, it seems the league would like that to happen.
But with the way NBA ratings discourse has gone so far this year, hoping the narrative does the same 180 that the data has done seems like wishful thinking. As with most viewership stories, it’s never as bad as some people make it out to be, nor as good as the networks and leagues would lead you to believe. Reality falls somewhere in between.
And no matter what happens with viewership this season, the NBA will be laughing all the way to the bank with its new $76 billion media rights deals set to kick in next season.
[ESPN PR]
