NBA ratings still rising to start new season

The NBA saw encouraging ratings growth in the first year of its new broadcast deals with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video thanks to additional broadcast exposure and a burgeoning crop of young stars.

That success is now continuing in the second year of those media deals.

According to Sports Business Journal's Austin Karp , the league is seeing a 19% increase in primetime windows across its television partners to start the new campaign. The NBA is averaging 3.33 million viewers in its first eight primetime matchups.

Regular-season viewership soared 16% in the first year of the new media deals as the NBA began a new television era across broadcast, cable, and streaming. Playoff viewership was also strong, with the NBA Finals posting its best ratings since the Chicago Bulls' 1998 championship.

Heading into year two, the NBA is doubling down on what brought it success last season. The league is expanding its broadcast network windows even further, from 75 games last season to 90 this season. Only 19 games aired on network TV in the final year of the former media deals. Additionally, the league is leaning into featuring more teams in hopes that more stars become household names. This year a record 24 teams will make at least five national television appearances.

Each network is seeing growth in the early part of its broadcast schedule. NBC had the most-watched tipoff game ever with Knicks-Sixers reaching 7.7 million viewers. ESPN celebrated its best opening week since 2014, with an average of 2.3 million viewers. Most importantly, Amazon more than doubled viewership for its season-opening doubleheader, with 2.14 million fans tuning in.

It will still take time for basketball fans to get used to the broadcasting rhythm of which games are on which networks on certain nights. But these numbers show that fans might be becoming more acclimated to the new setup, and the increased exposure is helping the league on all fronts.