NBA Early-Season Ratings Stay Well Above 2024, With NBC and ESPN Strong and Prime Video Trailing

Overview

• Through week three, national NBA telecasts are averaging about 2.0 million viewers, up 36% from last year, or 74% when NBA TV games are included, with NBA TV carrying fewer games than in past seasons.
• NBC’s second Coast 2 Coast Tuesdays installment delivered a combined 2.0 million viewers using Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, as NBC’s streaming audience is not captured by Nielsen.
• ESPN’s Spurs–Lakers was the top Nielsen-measured game of the week at 1.56 million viewers, edging NBC’s regional split window at 1.54 million.
• Prime Video averaged 987,000 viewers for its latest doubleheader (1.06 million for Warriors–Nuggets and 916,000 for Rockets–Spurs), and it is averaging 1.12 million season-to-date, down 7% versus comparable ESPN windows last year, with a younger median age but smaller 18–49 and 18–34 audiences than NBC and ESPN.
• Local RSN and over-the-air games are up 13% in ratings and 8% in viewership, gains that analysts note may fall within the range attributable to Nielsen’s recent out-of-home expansion and Big Data plus panel methodology.