With the new year underway, the NBA hopes to sustain the momentum in surging viewership it has seen so far this season.
The league is coming off one of its best ratings performances on Christmas Day, a staple day in the league’s history this century. Following a slightly down year for viewership in 2024-25, the 2025-26 season looks promising so far for the NBA.
Best Christmas Day in Some Time
The NBA announced it had its most-watched Christmas Day slate in 15 years.
Over 47 million people in the U.S. tuned in for at least some portion of the five-game holiday schedule. Viewers could watch those games on ABC and ESPN. That figure represents a 45% increase over 2024. Each game averaged around 5.5 million viewers, an increase (albeit slight) from last year.
In another “ratings victory” for the league, the slate also saw some significant traction on social media.
According to Videocites, which tracks content on these platforms, the NBA generated over 1.5 billion views on social media. That’s a 23% increase from last year. The league claims it “was the most-viewed brand across social media on Christmas Day.”
For context, the NBA isn’t the only true competitor for ratings on the holiday, especially with the NFL making inroads by moving to a three-game Christmas Day slate. Compared with the league, the NFL averaged nearly 23 million viewers for its Christmas Day contests, about four times the NBA’s. That said, the holiday remains a key indicator for broad interest among fans and non-fan viewers.
The Streaming Gamble Seems to Be Paying Off
It was a big-picture concern for the league heading into this year: would watching games be too tricky to navigate and too costly for the average audience?
The 2025-26 season marked a turning point for how fans could access their regular NBA content.
More games were shifting away from traditional linear television and toward streaming services. The league rolled out a new viewership guide outlining which games will be available on which platforms. Some days, games are on ESPN and ABC; on others, they may be on only Amazon Prime or Peacock. Sometimes, it’s a mix of the two.
In a small sample size, it seems to be paying off.
Before Christmas Day, the NBA reported that viewership for national TV games was 89% higher than in 2024-25. This number includes contests seen on NBC/Peacock, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, and NBA TV.
That trend even manifested in the first month of this season. In mid-November, the league reported over 60 million viewers tuned in for the opening month. By that point, it had also seen increases in merchandise sales, NBA League Pass subscriptions, and time spent watching games.
Why Does This Matter?
First and foremost, the league had faced a little bit of a “ratings crisis” throughout this decade.
As with many sports, the pandemic-era period saw a shift in how people watch content. The media landscape continues to change vastly.
As for the league, NBA viewership dipped by 2% in the 2024-25 season compared to the prior year. It was also the lowest figure seen by the league since the 2020-21 season. The numbers are, broadly speaking, still lower than they were at times in the previous decade.
Interest matters, and these metrics help gauge the league’s current health. The NFL and football in general remain king, but the NBA can at least be in the mix to hold its place as the second overall major sport.
Also, keep in mind this is the first year of a new, sweeping, multi-billion-dollar media rights deal between the league and its broadcast partners. So far, they seem to be getting their money’s worth.
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