The NBA’s five Christmas Day games attracted an average of about 5.25 million viewers per game across ABC, ESPN, and its other platforms, according to final ratings released by the league and Nielsen on Monday.
All of the holiday games — San Antonio vs. New York, Minnesota vs. Dallas, Philadelphia vs. Boston, Denver vs. Phoenix, and the Lakers vs. Warriors — saw an increase in viewership compared to last year.
The NBA’s Christmas Day viewership rose by 84% from 2023. One reason for the increase is that all five games were aired on ABC, compared to only two last year.
The Lakers’ 115-113 win over the Warriors, featuring Olympic teammates LeBron James and Stephen Curry, had an average of 7.91 million viewers, with a peak of about 8.45 million viewers toward the end of the game, according to the league.
This game became the most-watched NBA regular-season game in five years.
The 12 p.m. EST game between the Spurs and Knicks averaged 4,997,000 viewers, making it the most-watched Christmas Day noon game since 2011. A portion of the increase is credited to ESPN’s “Dunk the Halls” animated alternate broadcast.
The Suns vs. Nuggets game averaged 3.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched Christmas late-night game.
The viewership from Wednesday’s games helped push ESPN’s NBA season viewership up 5% from last season. Through 34 games, the average viewership per game is 1.96 million.
These results are positive signs for the NBA, especially amid concerns about declining viewership.
“Ratings were down a bit at the beginning of the season. But cable television viewership is down double digits so far this year versus last year,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this month. “We’re almost at the point where people are watching more programming on streaming than they are on traditional television.
And it’s a reason why for our new television deals, which we enter into next year, every game is going to be available on a streaming service.”
