NBA first-round viewership makes expected jump as broadcast exposure pays dividends

The NBA is coming out of the gates strong with healthy first-round viewership, as the league’s new broadcast network exposure continues to pay dividends in terms of audience growth.

Overall, the first round of the NBA playoffs averaged 4.0 million viewers across NBC, ABC, ESPN, and Prime Video, a 22% increase from last year’s games on ABC, ESPN, TNT, and NBA TV (3.27 million viewers), according to data compiled by Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch. This year’s viewership does not include the four games which aired exclusively on Peacock, which is not measured by Nielsen. Officially, it is the most-watched first round since 1993.

The biggest driver of growth was undoubtedly the increase in broadcast exposure brought by the NBA’s new partnership with NBC. All told, NBC aired 15 first-round games on its broadcast network, while ABC chipped in another five games itself, making for the most first-round games to ever air on broadcast television.

NBC’s 15-game slate averaged 5.5 million viewers (inclusive of streaming measurements from Adobe Analytics, which added 1.0 million to the count), which was good for a 61% increase versus comparable windows last season. Leading the charge for NBC was Saturday’s Game 7 between the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics, which averaged 10.99 million viewers with help from a Kentucky Derby lead-in. It was the largest first-round playoff audience since 1999, when 11.2 million viewers tuned in for a series-deciding Game 5 between the Jazz and Kings on NBC.

ABC and ESPN saw a moderate decrease in first-round viewership compared to last year, when the networks had a higher proportion of marquee games. The networks averaged 3.8 million viewers, down 15%, per Lewis.

However, Prime Video saw encouraging signs in its first year as an NBA partner. The streamer’s 13-game slate averaged 2.58 million viewers in the first round; and of the nine games with comparable year-over-year windows, Prime Video saw an 11% jump. Not bad for the NBA’s first year airing streaming-exclusive playoff games.

One factor that could be helping the overall number, aside from the dramatic increase in broadcast network exposure, is the exclusivity of games under the new media rights deals. Under the NBA’s prior deals, regional sports networks broadcast games within a team’s local market, and those audiences were not included in the national numbers. Now, first-round games air exclusively on the NBA’s national broadcast partners, so local viewership isn’t eating into the total.

Then, of course, there are the standard Nielsen caveats. This is the first opening round measured under Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel standard, and just the second to include Nielsen’s out-of-home expansion which now covers 100% of the continental United States. Both changes have generally served to increase viewership for live sports compared to prior years.

So, it’s fair to say the NBA was expected to post a sizable viewership increase this year and, to this point, the league has met its marks. More telling will be how the league’s viewership holds up in Years 2 and 3 under the new broadcast arrangements, with this year serving as a baseline of sorts.

But so far so good for the NBA. The league is getting exactly what it wants from its new broadcast partners as the conference semifinals get going.