The NBA’s new 11-year media rights era opened with a resounding statement. Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum is crediting the league’s broadcast partners for driving a historic first season.
What We Know: The 2025-26 regular season averaged 1.78 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, and ESPN. That’s up 16% from last year and the most-watched season in seven years. Fans also watched more than 920 million hours of NBA content, up 25% and the most since 2011-12. The postseason sealed the story. The 2026 NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs averaged 20.6 million viewers on ABC and ESPN. The most-watched NBA Finals in 28 years.
What They Said: (All quotes via CNBC Sport w/Alex Sherman)
NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum on the success of the league’s media partners in year one: “NBC and Amazon, specifically our newest partners have been incredible at telling stories. Telling the stories of players, and really celebrating the game of basketball. Educating some of our more casual fans of why they should follow and why they should watch. I think ABC and ESPN, who has returned as our partner, continues to do a wonderful job of that as well. They do a great job of cross-promoting these finals. It’s a combination of all those different partners who are doing a wonderful job of telling the great stories that are in the NBA today.”
NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum on talks with streaming partners for NBA Europe rights: “We’re having conversations with a ton of people. Including some of the big global streaming partners. There has been an incredible amount of inbound interest on taking those games and distributing them not only throughout Europe but globally. That’s what’s going to be so compelling about this. Just like the NBA is a North America-based product and league. However, it’s relevant and broadcast globally. We think we’re going to create that in Europe. Where it will be a European-based league, but there will be global interest here in North America, Asia and Africa. Given some of the brands, investors, and partners that we’re talking to, we have no doubt that it will create some global interest there. Therefore media partners are very interested in carrying that content.”
What Remains Unclear: The NBA has reportedly held conversations with Amazon and YouTube about broadcasting NBA Europe games. However, no deal has been reached. It also remains unclear whether streaming and content rights will complement or replace traditional media agreements in European markets. Furthermore, how the league structures global distribution — balancing domestic European broadcasters against streaming platforms — remains an open question heading into franchise selection.
What It Means: Year one validated the NBA’s shift from TNT Sports to NBC Sports and Amazon. The Finals surge — driven by the Knicks’ first title since 1973 — handed Tatum and Commissioner Adam Silver enormous negotiating leverage. Especially regarding anything regarding NBA Europe. Tatum has made clear the value of NBA Europe lies in its global appeal, not just its continental footprint. With a year under the Nielsen Big Data + Panel measurement, it will be interesting to see year over year comparisons for the 2026-2027 season.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
