ESPN's coverage of the 2025-26 NBA regular season has delivered one of its strongest starts ever, with the first 21 games through Christmas Day averaging 2.6 million viewers on ESPN networks—a 35% increase from last season, according to Nielsen Big Data Plus Panel data.
This marks the second-highest viewership levels in the network's NBA history for a full regular season, trailing only the 2010-11 campaign (excluding the shortened, nontraditional 2011-12 lockout and 2020-21 pandemic seasons).
Key demographic gains include:
- Viewers aged P2-17 up 45%
- Women up 47%
- Hispanic audiences up 37%
ESPN networks aired seven of the top 10 most-watched NBA games this season, including all five Christmas Day matchups—three of which exceeded 6 million viewers for the first time ever.
Studio programming also saw strong growth:
- "Inside the NBA" (TNT import now on ESPN/ABC) averaging 1.2 million viewers through Christmas
- "NBA Countdown" averaging 582,000 viewers, up 20% from last year's regular-season average
- "NBA Today" averaging 361,000 viewers, up 26% year-over-year
The surge aligns with the NBA's new 11-year, $76 billion media rights deals (starting 2025-26) with ESPN, NBCUniversal, and Prime Video, following major increases negotiated in 2024.