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NBA Opening Week Ratings Jump in First Year of New Rights Era

Recent changes in audience measurement complicate comparisons to prior seasons.

Overview

  • Opening Week averaged 2.8 million viewers across NBC Sports, ESPN and Prime Video, up 60% year over year and the best traditional Opening Week since 2017.
  • NBC and Peacock drew about 5.6 million viewers on Opening Night, the highest since 2010, with totals combining Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.
  • Prime Video’s debut Friday doubleheader averaged 1.25 million viewers, up 13% from last year’s comparable ESPN slate, with a younger median age of 45.6 and 659,000 in adults 18–49.
  • ESPN averaged roughly 2.2 million viewers over its two nights, marking its second-most-watched Opening Week since 2014.
  • The NBA reported nearly 37 million viewers across NBC/Peacock, ESPN and Prime Video during Tip-Off week as the league begins its new 11-year, $77 billion media-rights deal.