As the season enters the home stretch, NBA viewership continues to trend double-digits above last year’s abbreviated campaign.
NBA regular season games are averaging 1.61 million viewers across ABC, ESPN and TNT so far this season, up 20% from last year and on par with two seasons ago.
Last weekend, Jazz-Suns averaged a 1.6 rating and 2.74 million viewers on ABC’s NBA Sunday Showcase — the most-watched game of the season that did not air on Christmas or involve the Warriors. Ratings jumped 60% from Clippers-Bucks in the same window last year (1.0, 1.68M pending revision). Sixers-Knicks drew a 1.45 and 2.38 million earlier in the day.
Both Sunday games outdrew Nets-Bucks on ABC last Saturday night, which drew a 1.3 and 2.23 million — up 21% in ratings from Mavericks-Nets last year (1.1, 1.85M pending revision).
On cable, ESPN drew a 1.12 and 1.98 million for Mavericks-Warriors last Sunday night — up a tick in ratings from Warriors-Lakers last year (1.0, 1.65M pending revision). Pelicans-Lakers followed at a 0.9 and 1.46 million. ESPN also drew a 0.8 (+5%) and 1.38 million for Clippers-Lakers and a 0.7 (+13%) and 1.10 million for Heat-Knicks last Friday.
In the first games after the All-Star break, TNT drew a 0.7 (+22%) and 1.20 million for Celtics-Nets and a 0.8 (+15%) and 1.34 million for Warriors-Blazers on February 24.
Shifting to this week’s games, TNT averaged 1.45 million for Mavericks-Lakers and 932,000 for Hawks-Celtics on Tuesday; ESPN pulled 1.44 million for Knicks-Sixers and 953,000 for Blazers-Suns on Wednesday. Figures for Thursday’s games were not immediately available.
Most-watched games, 2021-22 NBA season
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily, PR]
