Sunday nights on NBC are just meant for sports.
The network aired the first two games of its Sunday Night Basketball franchise last weekend, and the doubleheader delivered record-setting viewership. Sunday night’s first game between the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks from Madison Square Garden averaged 4.5 million viewers across NBC and Telemundo, making it the most-watched Sunday night regular-season game since 2002, excluding Christmas Day. Of course, that superlative comes with the caveat that the NBA hasn’t had a regularly scheduled national telecast on Sunday nights until this season.
When looking at all Sunday regular-season games, including those played in the afternoon, the Knicks’ win was the most-watched since 2018. Viewership for the game peaked at 5 million. It was the most-watched game across all networks this season, excluding Opening Night and Christmas. (NBC drew 5.9 million viewers for its tip-off game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets.)
The nightcap, which featured the Thunder taking on the Denver Nuggets, averaged 2.9 million viewers across NBC and Telemundo. Oklahoma City’s win was the most-watched late-Sunday NBA regular-season game on-record. Very few NBA games are likely to qualify for that superlative, which covers only games tipping off after 9 p.m. ET on Sunday.
NBC’s two-game average was 3.7 million viewers. For a pair of regular-season games, that’s no small feat. Outside of marquee dates on the NBA calendar like Opening Night and Christmas, it’s rare for a regular-season game to attract such a large audience. Last year, NBA regular-season games averaged just 1.53 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, and TNT — a figure that includes games played on Opening Night and Christmas. NBC nearly tripled that figure for Lakers-Knicks, on a run-of-the-mill Sunday night.
Surely, there was some intrigue in seeing how NBC’s first Sunday Night Basketball game would look, which might’ve increased viewership on the margins. It’s also the first Sunday since September that didn’t feature meaningful NFL action, as the league decided to move its Pro Bowl Games to Tuesday night.
Even still, 4.5 million viewers likely exceeds expectations for both the league and NBC. The question becomes, how much of that audience can they retain once the novelty of a Sunday Night Basketball package wears off?
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.