Average viewership of NBA Games is 1.59 million in the 2022-23 season. It is a slight drop from 1.61 million viewers in the 2021-22 season.
All the games were broadcasted across various networks namely ABC, ESPN, NBA TV, and TNT. The numbers weren’t flattering as they saw a slight dip in comparison to last season with the four seasons among the least-watched seasons in the sport’s history.
However, ESPN network managed to secure 561,000 average viewers throughout the regular season and 264,000 P18-49 seeing a 3% and 8% growth from last season.
Average Regular Season Viewers List
- 2022-23 – 1.59 million
- 2021-22 – 1.61 million
- 2020-21 – 1.34 million
- 2019-20 – 1.62 million
On the other hand, the average WNBA viewership for the 2022 regular season was 379,000 and the finals garnered 534,000 average viewers.
The National Basketball Association also had a multi-platform strategy that allowed them to finish the season with over 13 billion video views across various platforms. Social media sites related to the NBA garnered 32 billion views seeing an increase of 10%.
NBA Finals Viewership By Year
The 2022 NBA Finals between the Warriors and Boston Celtics averaged 12.40 million viewers across six games. GSW won the Finals by 4-2.
2022 saw more than a 2.5 million rise in numbers as compared to the 2021 NBA Finals which had only 9.91 million average spectators.
The 2023 Finals between Denver Nuggets and Heat have garnered 11.75 million average viewers across the first two games with a rating of 6.0.
Average NBA Finals Viewership for the last 10 years:
- 2022 – 12.40 million (Warriors vs Celtics)
- 2021 – 9.91 million (Bucks vs Suns)
- 2020 – 7.45 million (Lakers vs Heat)
- 2019 – 15.14 million (Raptors vs Warriors)
- 2018 – 17.56 million (Warriors vs Cavaliers)
- 2017 – 20.38 million (Warriors vs Cavaliers)
- 2016 – 20.28 million (Cavaliers vs Warriors)
- 2015 – 19.94 million (Warriors vs Cavaliers)
- 2014 – 15.54 million (Spurs vs Heat)
- 2013 – 17.47 million (Heat vs Spurs)
NBA Finals Game Tv Ratings for the Last 10 Years:
- 2022 – 6.6
- 2021 – 5.2
- 2020 – 4.0
- 2019 – 8.8
- 2018 – 10.0
- 2017 – 11.3
- 2016 – 11.4
- 2015 – 11.6
- 2014 – 9.3
- 2013 – 10.4
NBA Viewership Demographics
NBA viewership demographics as of 2018 has China as the biggest NBA market with 800 million viewers for the regular season.
However, the Philippines has lately emerged as a popular country for the league, followed by Australia and Canada, except for the United States.
Likewise, female viewership increased to 23% in the 2021-22 season, and more than 30% in the 2022-23 season, making up one-third of the total audience. The increasing numbers clearly indicate the growing interest and passion for basketball among female fans.
How many people watch the NBA finals depends on the competing teams, with an average of 12.40 million audiences in the United States watching the mega contest between Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics in 2022.
NBA is among the top three most popular sports in the United States and is expected to gain a relatively higher audience. The NBA Finals have seen highs and lows in the numbers with the 2020 finals averaging just 7.45 million viewers, the lowest in the last two decades.
Where to watch the NBA Finals
Where to watch NBA games? ABC network will broadcast the Finals through cable and TV along with other television streaming services.
The championship games are aired nationally and ABC Network possessed the rights since 2003. Other streaming services can stream finals only if they carry ABC or ESPN.
ESPN3 and ESPN+ will also be broadcasting it on TV along with live streaming on the ESPN app or ESPN3.com
Other live streaming options if you don’t have access to these cable services:
- Sling TV (includes ESPN3)
- Hulu Plus Live TV (carries ABC)
- Fubo (carries ABC)
- YouTube TV (carries ABC)
- DirecTV Stream (carries ESPN, ABC, and TNT)
- NBA TV
Amazon Prime Video has the NBA League Pass that has access to the regular season games but the subscription does not have the NBA Finals.
In a similar case, CBS and NBC will not be broadcasting the finals as the network doesn’t have the rights to do so since losing it to ABC.