The first 82-game NBA season in three years was the most-watched NBA season in three years.
The NBA regular season averaged 1.6 million viewers across ABC, ESPN and TNT, up 19% from last year’s delayed, shortened season and up 3% from the 2019-20 campaign that was halted in mid-March and resumed in a “bubble” four months later.
As previously noted, ABC averaged 3.03 million for its 19-game package, up 13% from last season. ESPN and TNT both averaged 1.4 million, up 17% and 13% respectively. Averages for NBA TV were not disclosed, but the network is said to have had its most-watched season since 2017-18.
Notably, female viewership increased 23% over last season and 11% from two years ago, outpacing the overall average. Women are now said to constitute one third of the NBA audience.
The Warriors were the dominant draw of the regular season, playing in ten of the 20 most-watched games. The most-watched game of the season pit an eventual play-in team against an eventual lottery team as Nets-Lakers drew 5.75 million on ABC Christmas Day. The moribund Lakers played in six of the 15 most-watched games, second only to Golden State (three of those six games, it should be noted, were against Golden State).
TNT closed out the season with a 0.57 rating and 987,000 viewers for Warriors-Pelicans Sunday night, easily the least-watched Golden State game of the season. Celtics-Grizzlies turned in a 0.57 and 998,000 earlier in the night. There were no equivalent windows last season.
Earlier Sunday, ESPN chipped in a 0.51 and 903,000 for Pacers-Nets opposite the Masters — down significantly from Grizzlies-Warriors on the final Sunday of last season, which aired in mid-May and faced no notable competition (1.0, 1.82M).
The increase in NBA viewership bucked the overall trend of linear television. Average television consumption during the regular season was 5% lower than last season (December-May) and 18% lower than during the 2019-20 season (October-March; July-August).
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 4.12]
