National television broadcasts of the National Basketball Association on ABC, ESPN and TNT reportedly averaged a collective 1.53 million viewers on the season, representing a 2% decline from the previous year. The reported decline takes place as the National Hockey League is also down 13% on the year despite several landmark occurrences, including Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin breaking the all-time goals record. Colin Salao of Front Office Sports was the first to report this viewership data for the regular season as the SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament commences on Tuesday night.
Broken down by individual networks, the ESPN networks were flat from the previous year but games exclusive to the primary cable network were said to be down by 7%. NBA games on ABC, which is also owned by The Walt Disney Company, reportedly averaged 2.68 million viewers over 24 games, marking a 10% increase from the last year.
ESPN recently divulged its best first quarter viewership as measured by Nielsen Media Research since 2017, attaining an average minute audience of 868,000 viewers over the 90-day stretch.
In its final season with live game broadcast rights for the NBA, games on TNT were said to be down by 8% from the previous year. Warner Bros. Discovery will retain rights to display highlights across its platforms under a settlement with the NBA after it was unable to secure a new media rights deal with the league.
Starting next season, NBA games will be televised by The Walt Disney Company, Comcast Corporation and Amazon under 11-year deals reportedly worth a collective $76 billion that places games across broadcast and cable television along with streaming platforms. The award-winning studio program Inside the NBA featuring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny “The Jet” Smith will be sublicensed to Disney and is expected to air surrounding marquee games and events.
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