Coverage of the 2025-26 NBA regular season secured high domestic ratings in the first year of the league's new media rights cycle, perhaps validating its altered approach.
Across the campaign, a cumulative 170 million watched NBA coverage across the league’s range of US media rights partners: Disney-owned ABC and ESPN, Comcast-owned NBC and Peacock, Amazon’s over-the-top Prime Video service, and the league’s own NBA TV DTC offering.
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That figure represents an 86% increase on the close to 91 million that tuned in during the 2024-25 campaign, making this regular season the NBA’s strongest on US TV in 24 years.
On a game-by-game basis, average viewership increased by 35% year-on-year, rising to 1.78 million per game, the highest such figure in 13 years.
An impressive 57 national telecasts exceeded 2 million average viewers, the most since the 2011-12 season, and 19 exceeded 3 million, with the most-watched being the Christmas Day showdown between the champions Oklahoma City Thunder and contenders the San Antonio Spurs, which notched a 6.7 million average on ESPN despite NFL American football competition.
That was one of three Christmas Day games to break the 6 million barrier, while the opening day fixture between the Thunder and the Houston Rockets (5.9 million), and the February 22 game between the LA Lakers and the Boston Celtics (5.6 million) rounded out the top five games.
Speaking on the news, GlobalData Sport head analyst Conrad Wiacek commented: “The NBA will be celebrating the news that the viewership numbers in its first year of a new rights deal were up compared to its previous deal. By partnering with NBC, the NBA has managed to leverage the network's strong coverage across the US, while simultaneously exploring new streaming avenues with Amazon Prime, whose coverage has had broadly positive feedback, despite some occasional missteps."
Indeed, NBCUniversal's NBC linear network and the Peacock streaming service averaged a combined 2.8 million per game in each of its windows, far above the collective average, highlighting the strength of the league's newest broadcast partners.
Wiacek continued: “With average viewership up by 35% year on year, the NBA will be seeing the first year as a resounding success. Perhaps more importantly, attendances at games are also up over the previous three years, suggesting that people are engaging with the product, and this in turn is driving stronger media audiences.”
The return of the NBA this season to NBC platforms in particular, after a 24-year break, was a particular driver for the high viewership, with the league evidently not missing WBD-owned TNT Sports, which gave up the rights at the end of the previous season.
Wiacek explained: “While the coverage of the NBA on TNT had many fans, the NBA has entered into a long-term agreement with arguably a more stable partner, given the ongoing uncertainty regarding the WBD sale talks, and this is reflected in the new numbers. While the first year is no guide as to longer-term success, the news is undoubtedly positive and takes away some of the energy from those claiming the NBA is losing relevance as the previous generation of stars age out."
Meanwhile, the recent WNBA Draft, which took place on April 13, was the second most-watched edition of the event ever, averaging 1.5 million viewers on ESPN.
Only the 2024 edition, which drew 2.45 million thanks to the likes of Caitlin Clarke and Angel Reese, has ever drawn more than the 2026 draft, which marked a 20% increase over the 2025 draft.
The event peaked at 1.79 million, with the Dallas Wings selecting UConn star Azzi Fudd with the #1 draft pick, while a trio of national champion UCLA stars, s Lauren Betts, Gabriela Jaquez, and Kiki Rice, were picked consecutively from #4 to #6.
