Pickleskennedy1

499 | 6 hours ago

They changed the way Nielsen measures viewership ratings last summer, and since then I’ve seen this exact headline for any sport I’ve followed

TiredMillennialDad | Magic

98 | 5 hours ago

Yeah. It’s all bullshit. Way to many variables lol. They can’t track any of this shit reliably.

Egor_Denim

43 | 5 hours ago

The headline should really be “tv viewership believed to be more accurate, will advertisers pay more?”

Companies almost certainly knew that the prior numbers were way too low, but now that they’re “accurate”, are they going to pay more/have to pay more, or will they go “the prior payments for advertising were made with an understanding that numbers were artificially low due to poor reporting”

TiredMillennialDad | Magic

0 | 5 hours ago

Love your username.

I think Egor is an all-star in two years.

The shot is already there and the size and floor vision is incredible.

ObviousAnswerGuy | NYK

2 | 3 hours ago

yea I don’t believe this at all. More than Jordan’s second 3-peat years? I don’t buy it.

corsairfanatic | Lakers

48 | 5 hours ago

Yeah nielsen increases were about 8% across other sports. But NBA is averaging a 20% increase.

Not all Nielsen at all. Broadcast helps

siphillis | Spurs

-1 | 3 hours ago

Major markets being represented also helps. Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, and Pistons are all draws

PrestigiousBlood5296 | Raptors

3 | 2 hours ago

This is a comparison. So your statement only makes sense if all those teams weren’t there in other years.

Deathstroke317 | Knicks

10 | 5 hours ago

My conspiracy theory is they changed it because of the ratings discourse about wrestling

NobleHelium

12 | 5 hours ago

What’s the ratings discourse about wrestling?

Deathstroke317 | Knicks

4 | 5 hours ago

Very long and stupid story short: Wrestling is unfortunately very tribalistic between the two major companies and they use ratings as a dick measuring contest. It’s a relic of the 90s wrestling war and very stupid since the ratings hardly matter any more and both companies are doing extremely well.

NobleHelium

12 | 5 hours ago

Okay sure but what makes you think that it affected Nielsen?

jackaholicus | Mavericks

1 | 2 hours ago

There actually was some discourse around it… when the big data changes came out, Wrestling ratings dropped a lot. They eventually tweaked some things and those ratings came up again.

Deathstroke317 | Knicks

-1 | 5 hours ago

It was just a joke really

earthw2002 | Pistons

3 | 5 hours ago

“WE NEED MORE VIEWERS! GET LINDA INTO OFFICE SO SHE CHANGE THE RATINGS FOR ME!” - VKM Jr

PapaJohnsGarlic100 | Magic

9 | 5 hours ago

3 huge factors

like you said, the way Nielsen measures has changed
more games are on broadcast tv this year, vs cable
we CANNOT trust the viewership numbers that Prime & Peacock claim to have on their streaming services. Why would we ever believe them on this? (Also, I read that high-ups at ESPN hate NBC and do not believe the Peacock stats are real at all)

SeaCounter9516 | Thunder

6 | 4 hours ago

Wow, the higher ups at espn don’t believe and also hate their competition? Crazy

yeyiyeyiyo | Pacers

0 | 4 hours ago

I mean tbf we all hate Peacock

Boehlack

3 | 3 hours ago

Better product than prime (much as I may like their crew) tbh

PapaJohnsGarlic100 | Magic

1 | 2 hours ago

I will say this in NBC/Peacock’s defense, it is nice that they made NBC Sports Network a thing again, so if you’re a cable or YouTube TV user, you can get their NBA games that way, and don’t need to ever use the Peacock app or have a sub to it.

corsairfanatic | Lakers

0 | 5 hours ago

For 3 what you are suggesting is Fraud. NBC is a public company on the stock market through Comcast.

They’re not fudging their numbers. I could see them embellishing them, such as 5M viewers total could mean anybody that tuned into 1 minute of the game. But they’re not lieing. These people making 100-200k a year at NBC corporate do not want to go to jail

UnderstandingThin40

9 | 5 hours ago

Yeah there’s no way a public company can commit fraud ! Simply just not possible lmao

corsairfanatic | Lakers

10 | 4 hours ago

Sure it’s possible but to walk around thinking everyone is committing fraud is a sad way to live and think

Think about the middle managers who make these decisions. Everybody embellishes at work, but I’m not risking going to jail for no company

lava172 | Suns

4 | 4 hours ago

Brother have you seen the world we live in? 2008 happened and zero people got arrested. I think it’s a way more sad way to live and think to believe these companies are doing shit all above board

corsairfanatic | Lakers

-2 | 4 hours ago

2008 wasn’t fraud. Much of it was legal. Deregulation had removed the guardrails, so a lot of the reckless behavior wasn’t technically criminal

lava172 | Suns

1 | 4 hours ago

Ok, even worse, reckless “technically legal” behavior can ruin our economy and the only people that see the consequences are us

UnderstandingThin40

1 | 4 hours ago

It literally was fraud lol. The fraud was just so engrained and on such a large scale that they had to make it legal and bail them out so the world’s banking system wouldn’t collapse.

ZuckWeightRoom | Lakers

1 | 3 hours ago

This is now the received wisdom from NYT and WaPo readers but it’s not really the whole story. Shadow banking for example was sadly legal, but ratings agencies were actually just doing fraud, especially once interest rates were cut in the 2000s

SpicyTigerPrawn | Spurs

3 | 4 hours ago

I’m not risking going to jail for no company

American authorities have stopped charging corporations with fraud (unless they dare to criticize emperor dipshit) and those who were already charged are being granted wrist-slap settlements in exchange for donations to the mob family that runs our country. Wake tf up dude.

corsairfanatic | Lakers

1 | 4 hours ago

The pattern is real but the framing oversimplifies it. The DOJ’s fraud section actually called 2025 a “banner year”, 15 corporate enforcement actions, 3 indictments (first in 15 years), ~$1B in resolutions. Worth being precise about that distinction if you want to convince anyone who doesn’t already agree with you.

Dismal_Manager_3781

2 | 4 hours ago

This is definitely chatgpt right? Do you honestly believe that corporate fraud is being taken seriously in America right now (or for the last few decades)? Corporations rule this country. They make the rules and decide how they’re enforced

UnderstandingThin40

0 | 3 hours ago

The workers at nbc have no risk of going to jail for fraud. So your whole logic falls apart there.

icytiger | Raptors

1 | 3 hours ago

But they’re not lieing

It’s effectively lying, backed with an army of lawyers.

Same as when companies use “up to” to describe whatever nonsense statistic they want.

It’s not fraud, sure, but it’s entirely disingenuous.

jackaholicus | Mavericks

1 | 2 hours ago

Prime numbers come in lower than ESPN numbers. They’re extremely believable.

WhyDoBugsExist | Spurs

6 | 6 hours ago

what did they change about the ratings?

Pickleskennedy1

18 | 6 hours ago

https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2025/nielsen-begins-updated-era-of-tv-ratings-with-big-data-panel-for-this-falls-tv-season/#:~:text=As%20of%20September%201%2C%20Nielsen’s,final%20number%20for%20press%20claims.

I haven’t looked into it closely, just know it’s expended what it measures, and it’s increased the measured ratings for sports leagues

Google AI says this: “Nielsen has officially shifted its television ratings to a “Big Data + Panel” methodology as of late 2025, a change that has resulted in a 5% to 10% increase in viewership numbers for many live sports.

By combining traditional panel data with first-party data from 45 million households with smart TVs and set-top boxes, Nielsen is capturing previously undercounted viewers, particularly in out-of-home settings like restaurants and bars.”

AmityMayorVaughn

3 | 4 hours ago

Hope they factor in my pirate streams because that’s the only way I will watch

jm3546 | Thunder

20 | 5 hours ago

Their ratings used to primarily be based on their panel data. There are households that opt in to being monitored basically and they use that data to model out viewership for entire US.

Their new model is panel + big data, with that data coming from streamers and distributors. So if their panel data models to 5m viewers but the big data suggests that’s higher, then they can adjust that up.

It sounds like the traditional panel data was under counting sports a bit, but the viewership is up 20% over last year and I bet the biggest chunk of that is just from it being on nbc/peacock and prime over tnt.

thedrcubed | Grizzlies

4 | 4 hours ago

The only complaint I have about Peacock/Prime is that it’s more of a pain to switch back and forth when 2 games are both on.

Tony_Lacorona

1 | 2 hours ago

I can’t recall that happening very often this season. Usually it seemed like one streaming network got a different night, but maybe I’m wrong

BushyBrowz | Knicks

1 | 2 hours ago

My complaint is that there is a slight but noticeable delay on Prime, and for whatever reason, an EXTREME delay on Peacock everytime they play ads. It only happens on certain devices but it’s crazy annoying

jackaholicus | Mavericks

1 | 2 hours ago

Yes. I think the big thing we’re missing is an Omni-App that has all the services integrated and lets you buy stuff from the app.

It’s annoying that pirates have a much better service than paying customers.

schooli00 | TOR

0 | 6 hours ago

Probably takes into account how often the pirate streams would hang to guess how many people are actually watching

wuhter

5 | 5 hours ago

Apart from the NBA itself, that wouldn’t benefit anyone to count pirated watchers. So I don’t know why they’d try to count those in. It would actually give the media companies leverage, who are the only people that care about public viewership and ratings. NBA only cares about what they’re getting paid from them

IAmNotKevinDurant_35 | GSW

4 | 5 hours ago

I’m sure they still have estimates internally about pirated streams. They absolutely care about it, it’s just very difficult to track. The media companies aren’t going to give out lucrative tv deals if everyone is pirating. They don’t count them in viewership public releases obviously but they definitely try to monitor. It’s essentially a competitor

wuhter

0 | 4 hours ago

The media companies distributing the games do, of course. I was talking about Nielsen.

SpicyTigerPrawn | Spurs

1 | 4 hours ago

wouldn’t benefit anyone to count pirated watchers

They still get in-broadcast ads and big data can cross reference their IP address with locations where advertising companies exist.

wuhter

0 | 4 hours ago

True, I guess I was referring to Nielsen themselves. But yeah, the distributing media companies would definitely care. I’m sure they have in house people that track, but Nielsen, if I had to guess, isn’t counting that in those numbers

Obi_Wan_Benobi | Spurs

2 | 5 hours ago

Best bet will be to compare year over year from 2025 going forward.

Right now these numbers are pretty meaningless when compared to the past.

TheOliveYeti

2 | 3 hours ago

I figured something was up

Because these playoffs haven’t been THAT exciting compared to previous ones.

RealLanceStorm | Nets

-6 | 6 hours ago

Nielsen TV ratings have absolutely nothing to do with Peacock and Amazon which is the main reason why NBA has had staggering rises in total viewership this year

Disastrous_Image2756

18 | 6 hours ago

Confidently saying that inflating one of the measuring metrics used to track viewership has absolutely nothing to do with increased viewership is peak comedy

[deleted]

-9 | 6 hours ago

[deleted]

McSlapnut | Thunder

10 | 6 hours ago

Post has nothing to do with OKC and yet you are here thinking about them. That’s how you know they’re great.

Lucien_Montseraine

8 | 6 hours ago

Okc is living rent free in his head 😆

JxSumk | Nets

5 | 6 hours ago

Theres has to be a term for when people do shit like that tbh

McSlapnut | Thunder

4 | 6 hours ago

Envy

[deleted]

-1 | 6 hours ago

[deleted]

kingmsj28 | Thunder

2 | 6 hours ago

Except for the fact that there is literally 0 of those so called comments in this thread. The delusion is unreal

trillballinsjr

226 | 6 hours ago

The NBC deal is really good for the NBA. Having weekday games on broadcast is big deal.

horseshoeoverlook | Gran Destino

60 | 6 hours ago

Having it on Sunday evening too helps

Personal_Reach3775 | Celtics

58 | 6 hours ago

Prime is also excellent in terms of the people they field in their shows.

NovelRecover7596

21 | 6 hours ago

Yeah, first time seeing their lineup last night and I really liked it!

Dirk, Nash, and Blake are obviously great, but they also got one of my favorite underrated players ever with Udonis Haslem! Name I haven’t heard in a minute!

ScrapinLinden | Trail Blazers

8 | 6 hours ago

he basically just retired from the nba like 2 years ago which is wild

JiveHawk | Bulls

2 | 3 hours ago

The prime and NBC panels absolutely smoke the Inside the NBA crew in terms of actual quality basketball content.

I have fond memories of some of the classic Inside the NBA bits (Police presence) but they just aren’t it anymore

Mobile-Entertainer60 | Thunder

2 | 2 hours ago

UD has been a really good commentator. I had zero expectation, but I’ve been really impressed.

Acrobatic-Landscape9 | Warriors

3 | 3 hours ago

Idk how the NBA can expect to grow viewership when they’ve abandoned the lifeblood of their viewership: regional sports channels that require subscriptions to large, unnecessary cable packages that also get arbitrarily blacked out for no reason

platocplx

2 | 2 hours ago

Yeah locking shit to cable was a killer for them all this stuff should be on local nationwide.

JarvisCockerBB

98 | 6 hours ago

NBA fans obsession with ratings will always be the funniest thing. I’m so happy shareholders will be making good on their investments.

DiscoLemonade1995

36 | 6 hours ago

The worst is how everyone refers to and talks about the “product”. It’s a recreational sport that we should watch as a passion, the obsession with tweaking the rules to boost viewer metrics and obsessing over tv ratings is bizarre to me and such an American thing to do

_Wash | Timberwolves

20 | 6 hours ago

rule of thumb is to automatically disregard the opinion of anyone who refers to it as a product

Character_Bug_1862

5 | 5 hours ago

ConSuMerS

RedstoneRay | Minneapolis Lakers

2 | 3 hours ago

I mean the NBA is an enterainment product. Any fan should want the games to be watchable and entertaining. Wanting a better viewing experience with less intruptions shouldn’t be disregarded. Baseball listened to the opinion of people referring to the MLB as a product and the pitch clock brought the sport storming back.

cabose12 | Celtics

1 | 25 minutes ago

Yeah that just feels like one of those reddit high horse comments

Sports have been referred to a product as for decades, because they are. There are definitely weirdos who get too caught up in viewership as an identity, but there is a point there where if the game is losing viewers because it’s not entertaining, then improvements should be made. The product can be better

The_Masturbatician

3 | 5 hours ago

its because we have commodified everything, duh. People who own the business and all its ancilliary functions, operate in a technofinancial sphere which the money is goal, of utmost need and importance. All their efforts are the amoral minmax functions theyve set their sanctioned obsessivness onto, and have full backing to squeeze, subvert and liquidate until they can’t. Fuck anything else if it isnt giving them ROI.

That is what they are about. The rappers get some shit for being crass about wanting to get rich, die tryin, stackin dollas? whatever. These capitalist out there doing that real gangster shit in the finance, they go through with it, and their mindset turns everyone to playing their game How can it not? People want money more than anything else, and sports was primed and destined to be an avenue to profit they understood how to control.

DiscoLemonade1995

1 | 5 hours ago

I’ll squeeze one out to that u/masturbatician 👊

-JustJaZZ-

1 | an hour ago

Noone wants to be a fan of a dead/dying sport.

Sadly viewers have to care about ratings because bad ratings can mean tons of negative downstream effects

DiscoLemonade1995

2 | 38 minutes ago

That would be true if it were actually a dying sport and not a league valued at more than $160 billion! I really don’t think we need to have even the slightest bit of concern

dae5oty

-1 | 6 hours ago

Basketball is the sport. The NBA is a basketball product. The fact that you’re conflating the two means that the league gives them legitimacy. NBA has already mindfucked people they don’t bother thinking about the effects of its monopolistic practices.

BomberManeuver

17 | 6 hours ago

I really don’t care about rich people making money, but it shows how many people are interested in the game. Number going up is better for the sport than number going down. The ratings were grim for a bit, so them improving is a good sign.

Hovi_Bryant | Pistons

7 | 6 hours ago

Eh, I get what you’re saying, but this is good for the league and its fans by extension. The league has proven that it’s willing to grow the brand and product. And with more money via larger media deals, they have more opportunities to do so.

Whether this always results in a good end-product for the fans is debatable, but that’s what the ratings prove to show anyways.

ATLsShah | Hawks

6 | 5 hours ago

I don’t think people care because of shareholders and I don’t think it’s exclusive to NBA fans. The MLB just added things like the pitch clock in order to speed up games because ratings were down. Years ago after the NHL lockout they changed rules to increase the pace because ratings were down.

Ratings being down has an impact on the rules the NBA puts in place and our overall viewership experience. Like we’re seeing rule change proposals to the draft lottery because of viewership. If fans weren’t turning off games because half the league is tanking then they wouldn’t address this.

Obi_Wan_Benobi | Spurs

5 | 5 hours ago

r/nfl and r/mlb are also obsessed with the NBA’s ratings.

jackaholicus | Mavericks

2 | 2 hours ago

bad ratings means the nba might make drastic changes

people use bad ratings as a way to try to ‘fix’ the problems they have with the game

JarvisCockerBB

1 | 2 hours ago

I absolutely do not believe when the majority of people discuss ratings, they are thinking how it’ll affect rule changes but instead use it to either boast about their favorite teams/sport or trash the game it self.

BillPaxton4eva | Celtics

0 | an hour ago

I think you’re mistaking interest/concern for obsession, and misunderstanding why it’s there. You’ll get weirdly politicized takes like this with player salaries too, when no one cares how much money the owners make, they just don’t want their team’s cap taken up with bad players that make their team less competitive. People just don’t want the sport to fail, they don’t want hasty changes to happen because of bad ratings, and they want others to enjoy the sport they enjoy. They might also be responding to friends criticizing the sport they enjoy by calling it unwatchable and comparing it to other entertainment sources that are growing faster or doing better. There are tons of possibilities.

Thinking that people are worried about shareholder earnings is a really strange assumption. Not sure how you ended up there.

KeepenItReel | Timberwolves

-4 | 5 hours ago

Technically everyone invested in a basic S&P 500 fund is a shareholder.

corsairfanatic | Lakers

5 | 5 hours ago

No, NBA is a private company/org. Investing in the S&P 500 does not invest in the NBA

PepeSylvia11 | Celtics

1 | 4 hours ago

Wut

KeepenItReel | Timberwolves

3 | 4 hours ago

Comcast, which owns NBC, is in the S&P 500. So if you are invested in a S&P 500 fund, you benefit from NBC succeeding.

Temporary-Level-5410 | Lakers

-5 | 5 hours ago

It’s the only sport that’s like this, which makes it even more strange. Why should the average NBA fan care about how much money rich people are making off them watching basketball?

budubum | Thunder

6 | 5 hours ago

That’s just not true NHL fans are always comparing their ratings to the NBA and MLB fans were dooming over ratings for years before the sports recent cultural revival

skullcandy541

34 | 6 hours ago

And I’m streaming it for free 🖕

222Baphomettt47

0 | 5 hours ago

Can u dm me for 🏴‍☠️bc I hate missing games bc i only got YouTube tv

GivesCredit | Warriors

1 | 3 hours ago

If anyone needs a link to watch, feel free to dm me

Low-Lunch-7248 | Rockets

0 | 5 hours ago

Just navigate through fmhy during game days and you’ll be golden.

axnjxn00 | Magic

22 | 6 hours ago

Thats cool. However, there are 90 million more people in the US now than in 1993, too

horseshoeoverlook | Gran Destino

9 | 6 hours ago

This doesn’t even count the overseas viewers

redbossman123

4 | 4 hours ago

Not as impactful as you’d think.

Yang Hensen’s Summer League games got higher viewership in China than the fucking NBA Finals

2013idmroom | Warriors

1 | 2 hours ago

They got so excited for a bum lmao 😭

budubum | Thunder

2 | 5 hours ago

There are also millions of more things a person can spend their time watching instead of the NBA

ObviousAnswerGuy | NYK

1 | 3 hours ago

didnt even think about that. Pretty clear, then.

Ordinary-Spinach9012

13 | 6 hours ago

They must not have the most up to date numbers with all the people who cry on here about how they will never watch basketball again due to the Thunder winning every game.

Misterrbisterr

-9 | 6 hours ago

Let me guess, super homer okc fan? Uh huh

fattymcdabs | Thunder

2 | 5 hours ago

Let me guess, clinically brain dead?

Misterrbisterr

0 | 5 hours ago

Uh oh more homers here to show off their delusional homer bias

fattymcdabs | Thunder

1 | 5 hours ago

Nah I’m just worried about you and what’s gonna happen when your legal guardians aren’t able to take care of you anymore.

Misterrbisterr

-2 | 5 hours ago

Aww little baby is so mad that everyone doesn’t like watching his favourite team flop around like soccer players

fattymcdabs | Thunder

0 | 4 hours ago

I know social interactions are hard for you, so I’ll forgive your behavior.

Misterrbisterr

0 | 4 hours ago

Your comment barely grazed me.

Yet here I am, flopping around like a fish.

Do OKC fans love me yet?

fattymcdabs | Thunder

2 | 4 hours ago

Depends how many rings you have

zbipy14z | Thunder

1 | 4 hours ago

You must be one of the guys who constantly brings up ratings

Striking_Food5273

10 | 6 hours ago

But I thought the NBA product was unwatchable? 🤣

UnderstandingThin40

9 | 6 hours ago

That’s only bc they changed the way they do Nielsen viewership.

corsairfanatic | Lakers

9 | 5 hours ago

No, nielsen increases were about 8% across other sports. NBA is averaging a 20% increase.

Not all Nielsen at all. Broadcast helps

UnderstandingThin40

3 | 5 hours ago

Probably right

budubum | Thunder

4 | 5 hours ago

That’s a large part but that’s not the only reason. There are way more nationally televised games and they’re on Amazon and Peacock. Way more people have Amazon Prime than Cable in 2026

Professional-Bee490

7 | 5 hours ago

I never will be able to understand people needing external validation to prove that they are right in their enjoyment of something. Who fucking cares man lol, it’s been a great playoffs

ElectricGhostMan

7 | 6 hours ago

I wonder how much of this increase is people watching because of gambling/gaming related reasons

jackaholicus | Mavericks

5 | 2 hours ago

I’m sure quite a bit of it.

One of the NFL’s secret sauces is fantasy football.

ElectricGhostMan

1 | an hour ago

Fantasy Basketball definitely increased my own viewership this year as I was just wathcing a bunch of games I normally wouldnt to watch guys I picked up like podziemski on the Dubs, JJJ on the Heat and Diabate on the Hornets.

No_Caramel_1782 | Wizards

4 | 5 hours ago

It’s a new era. We’re done with Curry/ Bron.

FadeRunna | 76ers

-1 | 5 hours ago

Bron is still in the playoffs contributing to the ratings.

Go eat some mumbo sauce and pray for a top 3 pick.

No_Caramel_1782 | Wizards

3 | 4 hours ago

Look at you all emotional and shit.

Cvwpq

1 | 3 hours ago

lebron just got locked up by reed sheppard, the stans are going to be a bit on edge

lbjkb25

1 | 33 minutes ago

Should we be surprised that a 41-year old got stripped of the basketball by a player who sorta plays like a pest on defense?

_Tar_Ar_Ais_

2 | 4 hours ago

what a crazy projection

roastedhambone | Thunder

3 | 6 hours ago

Nah man, espn talking heads told me the sport is unwatchable and the league is on the verge of collapse.

Puzzleheaded_Seat211

2 | 6 hours ago

I don’t like jumping platforms streaming constantly but also like having access to all the games. Could use some better color commentary lookin at you Burke and Van gundy

NoahTheGrand | Bucks

2 | 6 hours ago

I will say I’m watching more this year, mostly because the Bucks aren’t in it and my soul isn’t crushed immediately post their annual first round loss

red2play | Hawks

2 | 5 hours ago

It’s called public TV. Many already have Amazon Prime, NBC and ABC. They have low numbers in previous years because of the gatekeeping.

Hornsdowngunsup | Spurs

2 | 5 hours ago

I wonder putting the games on local television is helping? Been preaching it for years. Stop the streaming services and put it on local television.

Nobody7713 | Raptors

3 | 5 hours ago

The NBA did the opposite of that though. Games are available on streaming.

Hornsdowngunsup | Spurs

0 | 5 hours ago

But they put more games on local television. If you have an antenna you would know.

Nobody7713 | Raptors

1 | 4 hours ago

I probably wouldn’t know because of the difference in Canadian broadcast rights.

Hornsdowngunsup | Spurs

0 | 4 hours ago

Sorry to hear that.

rounder55 | Celtics

2 | 4 hours ago

I don’t like having one game in one app and another simultaneously on another app like we did last night

It’s way too time consuming to flip between games

Seref15 | Heat

2 | 3 hours ago

Prime has me watching series I’d never watch otherwise.

Just putting games on a platform I already happen to have access to is a big win for me in the cordcutter era. I haven’t had cable TV in years and probably never will again.

heat_fan_ | Raptors

1 | 6 hours ago

Nice to see for the nba

TheKrakenLord

1 | 6 hours ago

Wow! Highest since ‘73!

DiscoLemonade1995

3 | 6 hours ago

Why does any fan care about this honestly? I mostly follow soccer and I assure you no fan would ever give a shit about this and yet we talk about this so much in basketball / football / etc

Troker61 | Thunder

10 | 6 hours ago

May not be a thing anymore, but soccer fans used to love posting about how the ratings for the champions league final were consistently higher than the Super Bowl.

DiscoLemonade1995

-1 | 6 hours ago

I have never seen that personally, but I’ll trust you on that! 🫡

Odd-Song5052

1 | 6 hours ago

Story is not at the link for me

kellydayscruff

1 | 6 hours ago

this post season has been elite

scene_missing |

1 | 6 hours ago

I am really happy with how many games I now have access to as a non-cable subscriber. Between rabbit ears and the Prime streaming I already had it’s been solid.

sangerssss

1 | 6 hours ago

That Pacers run was wild

Conn3er | Spurs

1 | 5 hours ago

Wow, all those extra eyes are just tuning in to watch Wemby vs. Robert Williams III, superstars of the league

tbulls123

1 | 5 hours ago

For me, I’m glad I get to see it on Prime, nbc, and abc now. More games to watch during the playoff and during the season since I have those local channels and use Amazon prime. Last couple of years when it was on tnt, espn and nbatv only, I never got to watch the games but highlights on YouTube since I don’t have cable tv.

Chinbie

1 | 5 hours ago

Its about accessibility and playoffs intensity… for me its the best time to watch some basketball games

DanTheMan14331 | Knicks

1 | 2 hours ago

I believe is the first year that first round games aren’t broadcast locally. Is that affecting the viewership numbers?

peaudunk | Bucks

1 | an hour ago

I’ve been higher, but not by much.

Saturdaze-Sundaes | Knicks Julius Randle

1 | an hour ago

Been so happy watching basketball the last two years man, awesome competition and parity among the superstars in our league. Grateful

Big-Equal7497 | Warriors

1 | an hour ago

Maybe it wasn’t MJ, it was just NBC

downtimeredditor | Hawks

1 | an hour ago

I wonder how much gambling plays into these viewership numbers

GONEBUTNOT4GOTTEN | Lakers

1 | 26 minutes ago

I wonder if its becuase other than the okc series the other series aren’t sweeps and potential history making comebacks not necessarily the TV deals.

PMmeFemaleUnderarms

1 | 21 minutes ago

I’m a casual fan that just looks at highlights every now and then, started watching full games this playoff just cuz disney+ asia started showing them live

AskZealousideal

1 | 9 minutes ago

good tv deal and parity

kajarann | Pacers

-1 | 6 hours ago

Honestly surprising considering everyone knows its either okc/spurs coming out of the west, and the celtics coming out of the east. Not too interested in watching til the inevitable okc/spurs matchup that will decide the chip

MatterAppropriate574 | Thunder

12 | 6 hours ago

By that logic, nobody should have watched any Pacer games last year because they weren’t a favorite to come out of the east. And they would’ve missed an incredible playoff run. Real basketball fans watch, casuals decide not to watch unless it’s ‘interesting’.

Otherwise-Formal-220 | Heat

3 | 6 hours ago

Sounds like some care about the journey while you only care for the destination

Fit-Bicycle6206 | Knicks

1 | 3 hours ago

u/kajarann will never say the first ideal.

couchtomato62 | Warriors

3 | 6 hours ago

So that just means you have been missing some good games.

HokageEzio | Knicks

2 | 6 hours ago

Everybody knew it was the Cavs or Celtics coming out of the East last year.

Nobody7713 | Raptors

2 | 5 hours ago

There’s plenty of good games to watch if you like watching basketball. Will most of them decide the title? Probably not. But the sport is fun.

Fit-Bicycle6206 | Knicks

1 | 3 hours ago

The Celtic who have dropped 2 games to the 7 seed Sixers?

lbjkb25

1 | 31 minutes ago

I mean.. the Bulls were inevitable in the 90s, yet the ratings were great back then. The Cavs and the Warriors were in 4 straight NBA Finals and the ratings were mostly good, especially in 2016 when game 7 was the highest viewed Finals game since game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals. If you have great teams with notable stars, that usually would help with ratings.

papadubizorz840

0 | 6 hours ago

Yeah cuz top 6 superstars are not from USA

budubum | Thunder

1 | 5 hours ago

This is only USA viewership

CoolAsTheUnthawed | OKC

0 | 5 hours ago

Thunder saved the league man wow

Blob_Sacamano | Nuggets

0 | 4 hours ago

Thanks draftkings

Sliceofmayo

0 | 3 hours ago

Most views but everything outside of the game is the worst it’s ever been. This is the age of gambling and monetization

lightwolv

-1 | 6 hours ago

I’m curious if this is raw viewership versus percentage of total viewership across all competing events.

Because we have a bigger viewership pool every year. Simply put, there’s more humans in the world every year and it should scale up.

* and before someone says “babies aren’t watching TV” this is a modern phenomenon, this is historically accurate every year.

rocket_beer | Celtics

-1 | 4 hours ago

So far, it’s been very entertaining and the refs have been a lot better!!

rookie_card_central

-2 | 6 hours ago

Too bad the officiating wasn’t improving their product on the floor because those ratings could be higher. Absolutely turned off by watching these so-called professional best-of-the-best refs work the most important games of the basketball season. Travesty.

caronj84

4 | 6 hours ago

Basketball is the hardest sport to officiate. If refs turn you off of a sport then you aren’t really a fan. They are going to make mistakes just like players and coaches.

Threshyyyyy

-2 | 6 hours ago

Haven’t watched a game this year but i guess all of you did

AmityMayorVaughn

-2 | 4 hours ago

I must be in the minority. This is the least amount of NBA basketball I’ve watched in a season in my 35 years of watching. It just hit me one day - the non stop commercials and betting ads. Constant stoppage of play… I realized I just wasn’t enjoying watching the NBA anymore. It sucks because basketball was life for me but the NBA product is more about trying to endlessly barrage me with buying shit than it is about watching the game.

vegetableJuiceee

-2 | 4 hours ago

Kinda hard to find the glorious steamsss

Exception1228 | Cavaliers

-2 | 4 hours ago

Fuck. There goes any chance of things actually improving then. How tf are more ppl watching this garbage?

IndyPoker979 | Pacers

-5 | 6 hours ago

I have to be honest that this sounds pretty confusing because this year’s playoffs have been some of the most boring playoffs to watch in the past 5 years.

I know I’m just one person but I’ve had a hard time paying any attention this year and I watched every playoffs for 30 years

lethalizered | Thunder

3 | 5 hours ago

This is the first time in 12 years we get 6 game 6s in the first round. If you find this boring, idk what would entertain you more.

orangemonkeyeagl | Vancouver Grizzlies

1 | 5 hours ago

Pretty sure these playoffs have made NBA history, it’s the first time a whole conference (East) has gone to at least 6 games.

So saying it’s boring is certainly an interesting claim.

Riker_Omega_Three | Grizzlies

-3 | 6 hours ago

I can guarantee they are fudging the numbers

Sports bars can’t always access the streaming games…that’s a lot of screens not on

People may not have the streaming platform, that’s a lot of screens

There is no way this is the highest viewership in 33 years

This is market manipulation for stock advantages…plain and simple

Nielsen tweaked things. 100%

clayfu | Clippers

5 | 6 hours ago

Kind of the opposite. It’s because of streaming that viewership is up. Ratings have generally been an estimate from a smaller sample, but in 2025 ratings data is also taken directly from streamers who can accurately track down to the person.

So starting this season basically every single sport that are on Amazon Prime Video saw an increase in viewership numbers because streaming is finally being accurately tracked.

Before they didn’t.

budubum | Thunder

3 | 5 hours ago

This is the modern American ape brain folks. People make a conclusion with no evidence and then form their own logic to reach it

The 2026 NBA Playoffs delivering its highest viewership in 33 YEARS!