The NBA’s return to national US network NBC delivered the most-watched October opening night in 15 years for the top basketball league domestically.
The major broadcaster’s doubleheader on Tuesday night – in which the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Houston Rockets, and the Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers – averaged 5.61 million viewers.
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That figure represents an 87% increase over the three million that watched on TNT Sports last year.
The first game between the defending champion Thunder and the Rockets averaged 5.85 million viewers on NBC and its Peacock streaming service.
The audience for the Thunder’s 125-124 double-overtime win peaked at 7.1 million for the second overtime period. It was the most-watched opening night game in the early window since 2010.
The Rockets-Thunder game also saw a 95% jump over last year’s opener between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks.
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By GlobalDataThe second game between the Warriors and Lakers, meanwhile, averaged 5.11 million, making it the most-viewed game in the late window and a 76% increase over the Lakers-Minnesota Timberwolves game last year.
The Warriors’ 119-109 win over the Lakers started on Peacock before going to NBC during the second quarter, after the first game was finished.
NBC replaced the NBA’s former long-standing partner, TNT, as part of the league’s new 11-year, $76 billion media rights deals that begin this season, with Disney’s ESPN and ABC, and Amazon, also holding rights.
Through its agreement, NBC will air NBA games on Tuesday nights and then also on Sunday nights beginning in February.
The Tuesday night slate was the network’s first live NBA coverage since the 2002 finals between the Nets and Lakers.
Meanwhile, United Media, the Southeast Europe-based media company, has secured rights to broadcast the NBA on its Sportklub pay-TV channel in Croatia and Slovenia.
A multi-year agreement will see Sportklub provide live games, daily highlights, and weekly NBA shows.
The deal reunites the NBA and United Media, with league action returning to Sportklub after six years.
NBA rights were previously held across the Balkans by Telekom Serbia, the telecommunications company, after it replaced Sportklub in 2019.
Telekom Serbia had provided coverage through its Arena Sport, the pay-television broadcaster in the region.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic is the only Slovenian player on an NBA roster this season, while Croatia has three players – Ivica Zubac (LA Clippers), Dario Saric (Sacramento Kings), and Karlo Matkovic (New Orleans Pelicans).
Ahead of its opening night this week, the league announced that a record 135 international players from a record-tying 43 countries across six continents are on rosters for the 2025-26 season.
Yesterday, international pay-TV broadcaster BeIN Sports renewed its long-running NBA broadcast deal in France.
