NBA delivers most-watched Christmas Day in 5 years, 84% more viewers than last season

According to the latest figures released by Nielsen Sports on Thursday, the NBA’s five-game slate for Christmas Day averaged about 5.25 million viewers per contest across ABC, ESPN and its associated platforms. The league’s lineup saw an 84% rise over last season.

While some believe that one explanation for the increase is that all five matches were streamed on ABC, compared to two last year, others simply consider that the basketball menu was better in general. Nevertheless, the NFL set the record on Netflix as the most-streamed games in U.S. history, almost five times more than the NBA.

After the Lakers beat the Warriors this Wednesday, LeBron James addressed the competition with the football league. “I love the NFL,” the superstar told the press in his televised postgame interview. “But Christmas is our day.”

Merry Christmas from the NBA… and now NFL 🤣🎄 pic.twitter.com/Hi12ZuDyo9

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 25, 2024

However, the truth is, there is no comparison. While the Baltimore Ravens’ 31-2 win over the Houston Texans averaged 24.3 million viewers, Kansas City’s 29-10 victory over Pittsburgh averaged 24.1 million. According to sources, there were at least 65 million U.S. viewers who tuned in for at least one minute of one of those two contests.

Even so, the NBA’s increase is impressive, as their Christmas lineup produced the best rating numbers in the last five years. “The numbers speak for themselves and LeBron can have his own view, and I’m sure more people will look at that because of this,” said Hans Schroeder, the executive vice president of NFL Media.

“But, you know, we’re focused on the NFL and we’re thrilled with the results this year with the Christmas on Netflix and we’re excited to continue to build that over the next couple of years,” he added.

The basketball league has been struggling to find out what is the root cause of their recent decline in viewership during this year, as addressed last month by Adam Silver himself. “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,” said the NBA Commissioner.

He then added: “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.”

After the Suns’ Christmas Day win, Kevin Durant asked fans to ‘stay invested in game’ after the news about the NBA dropping in viewership

After beating Denver 110-100 this Wednesday, Phoenix superstar Kevin Durant was asked about the NBA viewership falling down this campaign. The 36-year-old didn’t hesitate to speak his mind over the ratings decline.

“It’s a weird dialogue around the league and the viewership and I see a lot of people blaming the players for it,” the future NBA Hall of Famer told the press. “Something that big, it’s not just one component in why it’s going that way.”