The NBA recorded a significant rise in viewership in the first season of its new media rights cycle.
The 2025–26 regular season averaged 1.78 million viewers across its primary partners — ESPN/ABC, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video — marking a 16% increase compared to last season. When including NBA TV, the growth rises to 35%.
It represents the league’s most-watched season across its main broadcast partners in seven years, and the highest overall in 13 years.
NBCUniversal drove much of the growth, averaging 2.8 million viewers across its game windows, more than doubling last season’s comparable figures. Its “Sunday Night Basketball” slate averaged 3.4 million, the highest audience for a regular NBA broadcast window in nearly a decade.
Across the season, the NBA delivered 19 broadcasts exceeding 3 million viewers and 57 games topping 2 million, both the highest totals since the early 2010s.
ABC averaged 2.3 million viewers, slightly down from last season, impacted in part by schedule disruptions and the absence of key star power in marquee slots. ESPN posted modest growth, averaging 1.4 million, with the combined ESPN/ABC average reaching 1.9 million, its best figure since 2018–19.
Amazon Prime Video, in its first season as an NBA partner, averaged 1 million viewers across its package. While slightly below comparable windows from last year, the platform showed stronger performance among younger demographics, with double-digit growth across key age groups.
The increase aligns with a broader trend in sports media, with rising audiences also seen in college basketball and the NFL over the past year.