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NBA DELIVERS MOST-WATCHED CHRISTMAS DAY IN FIVE YEARS WITH VIEWERSHIP UP 84% VS. LAST YEAR



The NBA delivered its most-watched Christmas Day in five years, with viewership up 84% vs. last year across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Disney+ and ESPN+. The NBA on Christmas Day averaged 5.25 million viewers per game in the U.S.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ 115-113 victory over the Golden State Warriors led the way averaging 7.76 million viewers and peaking with 8.32 million viewers at 10:30 p.m. ET. It was the most-watched NBA regular season and Christmas Day game in five years and up 499% vs. the comparable window last year.

To begin the day, the New York Knicks’ 117-114 win over the San Antonio Spurs averaged 4.91 million viewers, making it the most-watched Christmas Day opener in 13 years and up 98% vs. the comparable window last year. All five Christmas Day games saw year-over-year viewership increases.

The NBA generated more than 500 million video views across its social media platforms on Christmas Day – an all-time record. The five-game slate also generated the most-viewed Christmas Day ever on NBA League Pass. NBA Christmas Day games were distributed in 214 countries and territories in 60 languages.

Yesterday also marked the closest NBA on Christmas Day ever (min. 5 games), with an average margin of victory of just 5 points.

Godymas wrote:the NFL games really sucked

but it's not like the NBA had some slam dunk games either. Particularly that Minn vs. Dallas game where Minny took a massive lead. Luka had already gotten injured. Then Minnesota just gave up to almost have Dallas comeback. That isn't a good game. Minny then does the bare minimum to hold on and win. The Philly vs. Boston surprise win was a nice touch, but PG13 was atrocious, I mean EMBARASSING. I don't think either team played particularly well. As for GSW vs. LA, look it's nice to see Curry and Bron duel it out, but at this stage we know that both teams are mid tier west teams and have a bunch of nonsense role players, particularly the Lakers. It was kind of a moral victory of "well cool LeBron and Curry can still carry the league" but I was sorely missing some of the new blood.

I mean truthfully the NBA should have given us a primetime matchup between two players in their primes. I have no idea why the matchup wasn't Giannis vs. Jokic at 8pm. Instead it's kind of a "hold onto relevancy" type of situation. With the old guys doing the heavy lifting still which is still a little short sighted from Silver.

Anyways, next year I expect to see OKC and Memphis on Christmas 100%. I expect to see OKC play San Antonio. Memphis could play Houston or they could play an eastern contending team.

jokeboy86 wrote:Reminds me of the pro wrestling discourse when fans of AEW talk about the great card and five star matches they had on their show compared to a WWE show. And then the ratings come out and show WWE still destroyed them in ratings. NFL still probably got more eyeballs yesterday even with two awful midweek games that should’ve never been played.

ReddoverKobe wrote:The NFL was close to perfect before 17 games and when Sunday night and Monday night were big deals. After they add an 18th game and continue with this crazy schedule its going to start losing steam.

Wingy wrote:So where are the actual ratings?

The tweets are non-sense without them. I can’t find them via ‘nfl vs nba Christmas ratings’ google search, nor by adding ‘Twitter’ to the end of that.

Are these people just saying because the quality of the games were better for the NBA? Doesn’t matter if way less people were watching than historical trends would expect.

DaGawd wrote:

Wingy wrote:So where are the actual ratings?

The tweets are non-sense without them. I can’t find them via ‘nfl vs nba Christmas ratings’ google search, nor by adding ‘Twitter’ to the end of that.

Are these people just saying because the quality of the games were better for the NBA? Doesn’t matter if way less people were watching than historical trends would expect.

yes the quality of games were undoubtedly better than the nfl games yesterday. there’s no debate.

DOT wrote:I legitimately don't get how it's been so long and people still don't understand why ratings are a poor assessment in the modern day due to changes in how media is consumed

It's like, you have to have had it explained to you by now, so either you're intentionally misunderstanding because you want to make a point, or you're just dumb. Either way it's pointless to keep trying to explain it.

Wingy wrote:

DOT wrote:I legitimately don't get how it's been so long and people still don't understand why ratings are a poor assessment in the modern day due to changes in how media is consumed

It's like, you have to have had it explained to you by now, so either you're intentionally misunderstanding because you want to make a point, or you're just dumb. Either way it's pointless to keep trying to explain it.

Yes, it’s not that complex, but it’s the only measurement we have. Saying “destroyed” is foolish regardless when you don’t know how many eyeballs were on either product.

Wingy wrote:So where are the actual ratings?

The tweets are non-sense without them. I can’t find them via ‘nfl vs nba Christmas ratings’ google search, nor by adding ‘Twitter’ to the end of that.

Are these people just saying because the quality of the games were better for the NBA? Doesn’t matter if way less people were watching than historical trends would expect.