This season, there has been lots of talk about the drop in NBA ratings on television. Many have had various theories on why those ratings have been down, ranging from too many 3-point attempts, homogenized halfcourt offenses, load management and too much competition from other sports and events during the fall.
While viewership was down significantly early in the season — according to Sports Media Watch, it was down by about 20% at the time — it rebounded afterward. After the trade deadline, viewership increased by 16% compared to prior to the deadline, excluding opening day and Christmas games.
It appears that a major factor in that rebound is the monumental trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Several of the Lakers’ marquee games following the Doncic trade got outstanding television ratings, and commissioner Adam Silver seemed to acknowledge this during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Thursday.
“I think you saw tremendous competition around the league, teams playing for playoff seeding, teams playing to get into the playoffs, healthy stars, a trade that attracted a lot of attention,” Silver said. “A bunch of things happened in the league that generated a lot of interest.”
Overall, NBA viewership for the entire regular season was only down 2% from last season. Even though games on ESPN and TNT were down 7%, contests shown on ABC got average ratings that were 10% higher than last season.
By comparison, the NFL, the nation’s most popular pro sports league, also saw a 2% decline in ratings for the 2024 season, while college football and college basketball, both of which are wildly popular, saw greater decreases in viewership.
