Summary
The NBA announced that the 2025-26 regular season saw record TV viewership numbers, the highest in 24 years. This success followed a new media rights deal with ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock, and Amazon Prime Video, which helped increase TV and online audience engagement significantly.
Key Facts
- The NBA signed an 11-year media rights deal worth over $76 million with ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock, and Amazon Prime Video before the season.
- 170 million people in the U.S. watched NBA games during the regular season, an 86% increase from last year.
- Average viewership per game was the highest in 13 years, rising 35% from the previous season.
- There were 57 broadcasts this season averaging 2 million viewers, the most since 2011-12.
- Fans watched NBA games for more than 920 million hours this season, 25% more than last season.
- NBA social media channels reached a record 228 billion views, a 13% increase from last year.
- Attendance in NBA arenas over the past three seasons is the highest ever recorded.
- The NBA Play-In Tournament began with games broadcast on Amazon Prime Video, continuing postseason coverage.
