Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Via AP news wire

NBA Christmas viewership hits 15-year high with 47M viewers. And social media numbers set records

Cavaliers Knicks Basketball - (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The NBA saw its best Christmas Day viewership numbers in 15 years, the league announced Wednesday.

More than 47 million people in the U.S. watched at least some of the five-game slate on ABC and ESPN, which represents a 45% increase over last year. And there was an average of 5.5 million viewers for the games, up 4% from a year ago.

The Cleveland-New York game was the most-watched Christmas game ever that started at noon Eastern, with an average of 6.4 million viewers. The San Antonio-Oklahoma City game was the most-watched in the 2:30 p.m. Christmas timeslot since 2017 and the Dallas-Golden State game was the most-watched in the 5 p.m. timeslot since 2019.

Also, the league said it was the “most-viewed brand across social media” on Christmas, with its content generating 1.6 billion views. That's up 23% over Christmas 2024.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.