NBA’s Christmas Day ratings skyrocket, even going up against NFL games

The NBA got viewers for Christmas, even while going up against NFL games.

The NBA’s five-game Christmas lineup was the league’s most-watched in five years, with the games averaging about 5.25 million viewers per game across ABC, ESPN and its platforms, the league said Thursday based on Nielsen’s preliminary numbers.

It’s an 84% rise over the NBA’s Christmas numbers from 2023.

The Los Angeles Lakers' 115-113 victory over the Golden State Warriors - a game pitting Olympic teammates LeBron James and Stephen Curry - averaged 7.76 million viewers and peaked with about 8.32 million viewers toward the end of the contest, the league said.

Those numbers represent the most-watched NBA regular season game in five years.

"I love the NFL," James said in his televised postgame interview Wednesday night. "But Christmas is our day."

The NBA said all five Christmas games on its schedule - San Antonio at New York in Victor Wembanyama’s holiday debut, Minnesota at Dallas, Philadelphia at Boston, Denver at Phoenix and Lakers-Warriors - saw year-over-year viewership increases.

Wednesday’s numbers pushed NBA viewership for the season across ESPN platforms to up 4% over last season. The league also saw more than 500 million video views on its social media platforms Wednesday, a new record.

For the NBA, those are all good signs amid cries that NBA viewership is hurting.

"Ratings are down a bit at 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. "You know, we're almost at the inflection point where people are watching more programing 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."

Part of that new package of television deals that the NBA is entering into next season also increases the number of regular season games broadcast on television from 15 to 75.