Data behind NBA ratings shows early-season panic was overexaggerated

01/01/2025 07:40 PM

The NBA closed out 2024 on a strong note, and despite the external conversations about the league’s significant ratings struggles, metrics around the league’s viewership indicate those concerns have been greatly exaggerated.

There have been a handful of numbers thrown around regarding the NBA so far this season, whether it be a reported 18 percent or 28 percent decrease in viewership year over year, but here’s what the numbers say as we close out 2024.

The truth behind NBA ratings heading into 2025

Reports from the first two weeks of the 2024-25 NBA season pointed to double-digit declines in ESPN and TNT games. It was all people could discuss as everyone tried to give their hot takes behind the dropoff and sending feelings of panic to fans around the world. But context matters.

During the first few weeks of the NBA season, the league was competing with a World Series featuring two of the most storied franchises in the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. Additionally, the NFL season was in full swing, with fans around the country still believing their team had a chance at making a special run.

And none of this even includes a presidential election that had the entire country’s attention over the last year or the fact that cable viewership for overall programming is down 13 percent versus last year, per Nielsen.

Christmas Day is often referred to as a big day in the NBA. With five matchups from morning until late night, fans tune in for a day full of exciting matchups between the NBA’s best players.

And boy did they deliver.

According to Nielsen, the NBA dominated Christmas Day with a five-game slate that averaged 5,335,000 million viewers, which is up 87 percent from Christmas Day 2024. It was also ESPN’s most-watched Christmas Day since 2019 (with an average of 5,337,000 viewers). The five game window was also the most-viewed Christmas Day ever on NBA League Pass, which introduced an all-new multi-view quad feed this season, allowing for fans to watch up to four games at the same time on one screen.

Viewership for all five Christmas Day games was up compared to the same timeslots last year, with the Lakers-Warriors game averaging 7,909,000 viewers. That number is up a whopping 511 percent from last year’s Sixers-Heat game in the same timeslot.

The noon Christmas game, which saw Victor Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs visit the New York Knicks at the historic Madison Square Garden, was up 101 percent from last year’s Knicks-Bucks game. It was also the most-watched Christmas game in that noon timeslot since 2011.

The late-night contest featuring the Phoenix Suns at the Denver Nuggets also set a Christmas record as the most-watched Christmas Day game ever for the late-window slot. With an average of 3,898,000 viewers, Suns-Nuggets was up 165 percent from last season’s Suns-Mavericks late-window game.

The highly-discussed double-digit decline for ESPN games is no more, as ESPN is now up five percent season-to-date versus the same time last year, per the network. Through 34 games, NBA games on ESPN platforms are averaging 1,959,000 viewers.

Heading into Christmas Day, NBA viewership has increased every week during the month of December 2024, with an average week-over-week increase of seven percent. NBA games also consistently rank as the most-viewed cable programs among the most coveted audiences.

Overall, the NBA is down just three percent this season compared to last, but none of these numbers include international viewership numbers or streaming websites that are impossible to accurately track. NBA Christmas Day games were distributed in 214 countries and territories in 60 languages.

As mentioned earlier, cable viewership is down 13 percent compared to last year, and streaming now accounts for nearly half — 41.6 percent — of all TV consumption, per Nielsen. The NBA took charge in addressing these changes in the new and highly anticipated media rights deal, which will place every national game on a streaming service starting in the 2025-26 season. In addition, the league also plans to increase the number of regular season games on broadcast television from 15 to 75.

The league finalized its new TV deal this past summer, inking a reported 11-year deal worth $76 billion. Starting next season, NBA games remain on ESPN and ABC, but will now also be available on NBC platforms as well as Amazon Prime.

“We're almost at the inflection point where people are watching more programming on streaming than they are in traditional television,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a recent interview with a small group of reporters during the NBA Cup.

“It's a reason why for our new television deals, which will enter into next year, every game is going to be available on a streaming service. And as we move to streaming service, putting aside how the actual game is played on the floor, it's going to allow us from a production standpoint to do all kinds of things that you can't do through traditional television. All kinds of new functionality, all kinds of new options and screens that are available.”

Another subject that no one has really discussed? Social media’s continuous boom.

It’s becoming easier and easier to follow a game through social media. Whether it be a clutch play, a record-setting shot, a milestone reached, or a funny interaction, you can find it all over social media within minutes of it happening.

The NBA generated more than 500 million video views across its social media platforms on Christmas Day – an all-time record. Seven of the top 10 most viewed players on social media also played on Christmas Day, according to the league’s metrics.

Seven of the 10 most-viewed players across NBA social will be in action on Christmas Day. Tune in to ABC beginning at noon ET for the full day of NBA hoops. pic.twitter.com/uKoRXxn0iJ

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) December 23, 2024

Another example of the NBA’s reach going beyond traditional ratings: Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant completed two acrobatic spinning layups on November 4, 2024. Within one day, those plays were watched 161,000,000 times, with each play standing out as the most watched video on the NBA’s social media platforms.

Heading into 2025, the NBA may still be down three percent but continues to trend upwards. It doesn’t warrant think pieces or hot takes about what’s wrong with it.

The league and its stars have never been more talented, athletic, or visible than they are right now, and things should only improve as the season continues and the new TV deal kicks in.

The post Data behind NBA ratings shows early-season panic was overexaggerated appeared first on ClutchPoints.