The start of 2026 has brought encouraging news for the NBA, with viewership showing an impressive increase of 18% compared to the same timeframe last year. This growth can largely be attributed to a strategic shift in broadcasting, featuring more games on network television while reducing those on cable, alongside a particularly successful Christmas game lineup. Currently, games aired on ABC/ESPN, NBC, and Prime Video have drawn an average of 2.02 million viewers, which is a notable improvement over the figures recorded at the beginning of 2025 when ABC/ESPN and TNT/truTV were the primary broadcasters. If we include the nonexclusive games that are shown on NBA TV, the average viewership dips to around 1.8 million.
Examining regional game delivery reveals that 17 out of 29 U.S. teams have experienced an uptick in viewership compared to last season. A significant number of these teams are associated with the Main Street Sports Group, which has recently faced challenges in meeting payment obligations to several franchises.
NBC made a strong entry into the NBA season with its broadcasting package launched on October 21, achieving the highest viewership for an NBA Tip-Off doubleheader in 15 years. Following this success, the Coast 2 Coast Tuesday game series premiered on October 28, with the December 2 matchup between the Knicks and Celtics emerging as the most-watched pre-Christmas Tuesday game since 1996. Across all Tuesday broadcasts, NBC is enjoying an average of 2.9 million viewers, marking an astonishing 87% increase from the same timeslot during the previous season. While NBC did not disclose specific viewer numbers for their Monday night games on Peacock, it is expected that those figures are lower than what was seen on linear television in the past.
ESPN and ABC have also reported impressive growth, with viewership up by 30% so far this season, despite offering fewer games on cable due to the new media agreement. Their networks are averaging 2.53 million viewers, a figure that includes the highly popular Christmas games as well as various midweek and weekend matchups.
Prime Video’s inaugural season airing NBA games is attracting an average of 1.2 million viewers per game. When looking at comparable time slots from the previous season, Amazon’s performance is commendable, showing only a 3% decrease compared to national networks in those same windows. However, there has been a noticeable increase in viewership among younger demographics: adults aged 18-34 are up 13%, those aged 18-49 have risen by 20%, and viewers aged 25-54 have increased by 17%. The Knicks-Spurs Emirates NBA Cup Final remains Prime Video’s highest-performing game with an audience of 3.1 million.
As with Prime Video's NFL coverage and NASCAR broadcasts, the audience for NBA games on Prime Video skews significantly younger than traditional linear TV audiences. The median age of viewers watching the NBA on Prime Video stands at 46.6 years, nearly eight years younger than the median age of 54.5 years for viewers on linear television this season.
In total, the NBA has reached an astounding audience of 115 million individuals in the U.S. who have tuned in for national games this season, marking the highest figure recorded for this stage of the season since tracking began in 2002. Viewership across platforms such as NBC/Peacock, ESPN/ABC, Prime Video, and NBA TV has surged by 85% compared to the same point last year. Additionally, the league has amassed a staggering 75 billion video views across social media platforms, representing a 32% increase from the previous season, according to data from Videocites.
