The National Basketball Association viewership totals for the 2024-2025 season are up double digits from this time last year on ABC TV. According to the network, ABC’s viewership of the NBA regular season is up ten percent from last year, according to Nielsen.
Furthermore, the 24-game average viewership on the network has reached 2,683,000 viewers, which is an increase from 2,436,000 average viewers at this point last year.
In terms of demographics, male viewership has contributed significantly to these gains. In fact, this has been the most-watched season of the NBA on ABC since the 2021-2022 NBA season.
There have been some major factors driving the increased viewership is ABC’s expanded NBA coverage. This season, the network has broadcast two NBA Cup games, five Christmas Day games, and the highly anticipated national NBA Game of the Week marquee matchup. Additionally, NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC and NBA Sunday Showcase remain key programming highlights.
A prime example of this surge in viewership occurred last month when the Western Conference showdown between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets averaged 2.87 million viewers on ABC. Notably, this made it the most-watched program of the night on television. According to Nielsen, the matchup peaked with 3.35 million viewers at 10:45 p.m. EST and, overall, was up 29% from the comparable matchup last season between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks.
Earlier in the season, ESPN also experienced record-breaking numbers. Specifically, the network enjoyed its highest Christmas Day viewership in five years, recording an impressive 87% year-over-year increase with an average of 5.25 million viewers across its five-game slate.
Looking ahead, ABC will continue its exclusive coverage of the NBA Finals this June and will resume broadcasting with the NBA Playoffs. This extends a broadcast tradition that has remained on the Disney-owned network since 2003. Furthermore, under the current media rights deal, ABC will air one of the two Conference Finals series for 10 of the 11 years in the agreement. Lastly, all games airing on ESPN and ABC will also be available on the ESPN Flagship direct-to-consumer service, which is expected to launch later this year.
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