It’s as if LeBron James was looking into a crystal ball when he told us Christmas Day belonged to the NBA.
After weeks of negative headlines and bad numbers for the NBA, the league delivered its best Christmas Day viewership numbers on ESPN in a half-decade. Led by marquee teams like the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics as well as legendary stars like James (who discussed the significance of the day for the league after his game), Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, the NBA announced viewership was up 83 percent compared with 2023.
That was at least partially driven by Disney placing the slate on more of its platforms than ever before. After just two of five games were broadcast on ABC in 2023, all five were on the free broadcast network in 2024. Disney also streamed all five games on ESPN+ and Disney+ for the first time.
Tipoff featuring French phenom Victor Wembanyama in Madison Square Garden drew 4.91 million average viewers. The NBA said it was the most-watched Christmas Day opener in 13 years, up nearly double over 2023. ESPN2, ESPN+ and Disney+ aired a unique “Dunk the Halls” alt-cast featuring Mickey Mouse and friends, which likely contributed to the higher numbers for the opener.
In the second slot, a Western Conference Finals rematch featuring Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks drew 4.38 million average viewers. The NBA said that was a six percent increase over 2023.
Later, a Northeast corridor rivalry game between Philadelphia and Boston scored 5.16 million average viewers, up three percent over 2023.
But the final two games really blew the top off the day for Disney and the league.
The game between James’ Los Angeles Lakers and Curry’s Golden State Warriors averaged 7.8 million viewers and peaked with more than 8.3 million for Curry’s deep game-tying 3 and Austin Reaves’ game-winning layup at the end of regulation. The league said that was a 499 percent increase over last year’s injury-riddled Heat at Sixers debacle.
The nightcap from Phoenix, with Durant’s Suns hosting Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, averaged 3.84 million viewers. That was up 161 percent over the Suns hosting Doncic and Dallas last year, according to the NBA.
Viewership is very easy to manipulate these days. Between Nielsen adding out-of-market viewing into its calculations, the proliferation of streaming, and media companies’ increased embrace of their broadcast networks as live sports destinations, year-over-year comparisons are hardly apples-to-apples.
Still, the NBA Christmas Day slate was available entirely on ABC in 2022 per Colin Salao of Front Office Sports. And 2024 is still up nearly 25 percent over that year’s games.
5.25 million viewers for NBA’s five-game Christmas slate, +84% vs last year.
đ All games on ABC vs. two in 2023. But all were on ABC in 2022, and 2024 is up ~23%.
đ 7.76 million for LakersâWarriors (highest in five years)
đ NFL only had two games, not three (2022, 2023)â Colin Salao (@colincsalao) December 26, 2024
No matter how you slice it, this is still a nice win for the NBA.
The league is milking the last few years of its legends as much as it can, and viewership has been startlingly low the past two seasons. This bounce-back will help to stem the tide of criticism toward the NBA and reinforce the attention the league can still draw when the stars align.
[NBA PR]
