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  "path": "/sports-media/2026/04/15/viewership-of-nba-regular-season-games-up-86-over-last-season",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-15T20:05:04.317Z",
  "site": "https://chicago.suntimes.com",
  "textContent": "<p>NEW YORK — The numbers are in, and the NBA says Year 1 of its new television deals were a hit.</p><p>The league released numbers for the regular season on Wednesday, showing that 170 million people in the U.S. watched NBA games across the league's four primary broadcast platforms this year — those being ABC/ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, NBC/Peacock, and NBA TV.</p><p>Those numbers are the league's best in 24 years, the NBA said, plus represented an 86% rise over last season.</p><p>Prime Video was part of the league's television rights package for the first time this season and NBC/Peacock returned for the first time in a generation. The league signed a new 11-year, $76 billion-plus media rights deal in 2024 to show games on those two platforms along with ABC/ESPN and NBA TV.</p><p>Those deals kicked in at the start of this season.</p><p>Other highlights of the viewership numbers:</p><p>• NBA games across ABC/ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, NBC/Peacock and NBA TV had the the highest average viewership in 13 years, up 35% over last season.</p><p>• A total of 57 telecasts this season reached an average of 2 million viewers, the most since the 2011-12 season.</p><p>• People watched NBA games for more than 920 million hours, up 25% over last season and the most since 2011-12.</p><p>• The NBA's social media channels generated a record 228 billion views this season, according to Videocites. That's up 13% over last season.</p><p>• Attendance over the past three seasons in NBA arenas is higher than any three-season span in league history.</p><p>• Viewership for NBA Cup group play games was up 90% from last season.</p><p>• The audience for the All-Star Game on NBC, averaging 8.8 million viewers, was the largest for the league's midseason showcase event since 2011.<br></p>",
  "title": "Viewership of NBA regular-season games up 86% over last season",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-15T20:20:20.398Z"
}