A record-low Christmas Day took a toll on the numbers, but the NBA regular season still eked out an increase in viewership.
The 2023-24 NBA regular season averaged 1.09 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV, up 1% from last year (1.08M) and the highest all-network average in four years. NBA TV made the difference in the year-over-year gain, as the network’s 107-game average of 330,000 increased 15% from 288,000 last year.
Across the three main broadcasters ABC, ESPN and TNT, this year’s average of 1.56 million across marked a 1% decline from last year’s 1.59 million and was the lowest in three years.
The season average was adversely affected by the league’s the record-low Christmas Day viewership. The five-game Christmas schedule averaged 2.85 million viewers, down 30% from last year. The games aired opposite an NFL tripleheader that not only averaged 28.68 million, but prevented NBA broadcast partner ABC from carrying all five NBA games as it did last season.
With Christmas excluded, this year’s regular season average was 1.06 million across all four networks, up 5% from 1.01 million last year — and 1.53 million on the primary three, up 2% from last year’s 1.49 million.
Even at a record-low, Christmas produced two of the three largest audiences of the NBA season as Celtics-Lakers averaged 5.01 million and Warriors-Nuggets 4.13 million on the holiday. The new In-Season Tournament generated the highest rating and second-largest audience of the season — a 2.5 and 4.58 million for the Lakers-Pacers final.
The Lakers played in eight of the 11 most-watched games this season, more than any other team, while the Warriors played in five of the top 12.
Most-watched NBA games, 2023-24 regular season
In Sunday’s regular season finale, Lakers-Pelicans averaged a 0.8 and 1.46 million on ESPN — flat in ratings but down 12% in viewership from Jazz-Lakers last year, a closer game that benefited from Easter Sunday out-of-home viewing (0.8, 1.66M). Bulls-Knicks led in with a 0.7 and 1.18 million, up 21% and 20% respectively from last year’s Hawks-Celtics game (0.55, 988K).