NBA Christmas games break viewing record

ESPN recorded highest average viewership NBA For Christmas since 2018. Overall, the Christmas game show drew 47.2 million viewers; This is the highest figure since 2010, not counting the opening of the season on Christmas Day in 2011.

Average viewership for the five Christmas Day matches was 5.5 million, up 4% from 2024, according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel data. The total number of people who watched Christmas plays at least partially reached 47.2 million, up 45% on last year.

The Christmas game schedule started with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ match against the New York Knicks, which attracted an average of 6.4 million viewers. That’s a record for the Christmas dinner slot game and is 27% higher than last year’s San Antonio Spurs-Knicks game. The highest number of views occurred at the end of the match; 8.2 million viewers. The animated “Dunk the Halls” broadcast of the Cavaliers-Knicks game added 280,000 viewers, up 25% from its premiere last Christmas.

The San Antonio Spurs-Oklahoma City Thunder match was the most watched match since 2017, when the Cleveland Cavaliers played the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. The game’s average viewership reached 6.7 million viewers, up 51% from last year’s Minnesota Timberwolves-Dallas Mavericks game.

The night’s Minnesota Timberwolves-Denver Nuggets game was the second most-watched Christmas Day game in history, with an average of 3.6 million viewers.

The Dallas Mavericks-Golden State Warriors game was the most-watched Christmas Day game since 2019, averaging 6.1 million viewers. The number of views increased by 16% compared to the same period last year.

The Houston Rockets – Los Angeles Lakers match attracted an average of 5.4 million viewers.