The combination of more ABC games, fewer NFL games, and close, compelling finishes helped the NBA to a massive rebound for its Christmas Day slate.
The five-game NBA Christmas Day slate averaged 5.3 million viewers across the ESPN family of networks, up 87% from last year’s record-low (2.85M) and the league’s highest average on the holiday since 2019. This year’s audience was essentially even with 2019 (5.337M to 5.335M), though it should be noted that was the last year before Nielsen began including out-of-home viewing in its estimates.
This year was just the second in which all five Christmas Day games aired on ABC. Compared to the previous such occurrence in 2022, this year’s average increased 24% from 4.30 million. This was also the first year since 2021 in which the NBA faced two, rather than three, competing NFL games. Compared to that year, viewership increased 31% from 4.08 million.
Lakers-Warriors led the way with a combined 7.91 million on ABC and ESPN, up more than six-fold from Sixers-Heat on ESPN alone last year (1.30M) and the largest NBA regular season audience since Clippers-Lakers on Christmas 2019 (8.76M).
It was also the most-watched NBA game on a day that included NFL games since the 2020 NBA Finals, and the most-watched outside of that anomalous circumstance since Christmas 2017 (Cavaliers-Warriors: 8.83M).
The Lakers’ thrilling win, which peaked with 8.45 million in the 10:30 PM ET quarter-hour, increased 67% from the previous primetime Christmas game on ABC (2022 Grizzlies-Warriors: 4.75M) and 13% from the previous primetime game that did not face NFL competition (2020 Mavericks-Lakers: 7.01M).
Sixers-Celtics ranked second for the day with 5.24 million, up 5% from Celtics-Lakers last year, which was the most-watched game of the year-ago Christmas slate (5.01M).
Spurs-Knicks placed third with 5.00 million in the Noon ET window — including a “Dunk the Halls” Mickey Mouse-themed simulcast on ESPN2 — the largest audience for the Noon Christmas game since Celtics-Knicks on TNT in 2011, which was the first game of the lockout-delayed season.
Viewership more-than-doubled Bucks-Knicks on ESPN alone last year (2.49M) and increased 23% from Sixers-Knicks in 2022, the previous Noon game to air on ABC (4.07M).
Timberwolves-Mavericks had 4.45 million in a mid-afternoon window, up 8% from Warriors-Nuggets last year (4.13M) and the top Christmas game in that window since 2021 (Celtics-Bucks: 4.93M).
Nuggets-Suns rounded out the schedule with 3.90 million — nearly triple Mavericks-Suns last year (1.47M) and the largest audience ever for the late night Christmas window (dates back to 2008). Compared to the previous time ABC carried the late night window in 2022, viewership increased 54% from the same Suns-Nuggets matchup (2.52M).
Owing to the Christmas Day performance, NBA games on ABC, ESPN and TNT this season are now averaging 1.76 million viewers — down just three percent from last year, after previously being down 18 percent. Including NBA TV, viewership is down 9% to 1.07 million, an improvement from a decline of 25%. The ESPN networks in particular are now up five percent.
The five Christmas Day games rank as the five most-watched of the season — each surpassing Knicks-Celtics on Opening Night (3.01M) — which is a first in the five-game era (excluding the Opening Day edition in 2011). Five of the six most-watched games this season have aired on broadcast television, with the Bucks-Thunder NBA Cup Final placing sixth with 2.99 million.
