NBA Announces Historic TV Broadcast News Before Playoffs

The 2025-26 NBA regular season concluded with its final day of action on Sunday. And as the league now heads into its highly-anticipated playoffs, it recognized some historic TV viewership numbers accomplished over the course of the year.

Before the start of the season, the NBA reached a new 11-year media rights deal worth more than $76 million with ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime Video.

That deal was apparently extremely successful for the NBA.

The league delivered its highest TV viewership numbers in 24 years, up 86% compared to the 2024-25 season.

“170 million people in the U.S. watched NBA games across ABC/ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, NBC/Peacock and NBA TV during the regular season – the most in 24 years and up 86% vs. last season,” NBA communications wrote in an announcement on Wednesday.

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The NBA accomplished several other TV milestones, which the league shared on its official website:

• NBA games across ABC/ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, NBC/Peacock and NBA TV had the highest average viewership in 13 years, up 35% over last season.
• A total of 57 telecasts this season reached an average of 2 million viewers, the most since the 2011-12 season.
• People watched NBA games for more than 920 million hours, up 25% over last season and the most since 2011-12.
• The NBA's social media channels generated a record 228 billion views this season, according to Videocites. That's up 13% over last season.
• Attendance over the past three seasons in NBA arenas is higher than any three-season span in league history.
• Viewership for NBA Cup group play games was up 90% from last season.
• 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.

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The NBA Play-In Tournament began with some exciting postseason action on Amazon Prime Video Tuesday night.

Lamelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets narrowly defeated the Miami Heat with a 127-126 final score in overtime, and the Portland Trail Blazers took down the Phoenix Suns with a closely-contested 114-110 final score.

Amazon Prime Video will broadcast Wednesday night’s Play-In Tournament action featuring the Philadelphia 76ers vs. Orlando Magic and the Golden State Warriors vs. Los Angeles Clippers.

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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 4:10 PM.