NBA breaks 15-year viewership record in the first month of the season! Total audience surpasses 60 million with over 30 billion views.

On November 21st Beijing time, the NBA officially announced that during the first month of the regular season, NBA national games broadcast on NBC, Peacock, Amazon, and ESPN have attracted over 60 million viewers. The league also highlighted this as the highest opening season viewership in 15 years.

This figure excludes the 2011-12 season, which began on Christmas Day—a period traditionally known for peak NBA viewership. Even so, the performance in the first four weeks of this season is a very positive signal for the league, especially as it marks the first year of the 11-year, $76 billion broadcast deal with its media partners.

Currently, NBA-related content on official and third-party social media platforms has surpassed 30 billion views, setting a new record for this point in the season. The league added that merchandise sales at the NBA official store have increased by over 20%, partly driven by the promotion of a “new generation” of stars including Alexander, Edwards, Wembanyama, Maxey, Flagg, Brunson, and Doncic. Additionally, subscriptions to NBA League Pass have risen by 10%, with viewing time on the platform up by 8%.

The impressive data is not limited to digital platforms. Attendance at live games this season is roughly the same as last season, which recorded the second-highest attendance rate in league history. As of the same period, the overall arena occupancy rate across the league reached about 97%.

As of this Thursday, 10 teams have sold out all their home games so far this season. These teams are the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, and Utah Jazz. Meanwhile, teams like the Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Hornets have seen attendance rise by nearly 10% compared to last year.

Such strong viewership is also linked to the exciting games in the first month of the season. In the first 30 days, there have been six game-winning buzzer-beaters, tying the highest total for this period since the 1997-98 season. The 2005-06 and 2014-15 seasons also each had six buzzer-beaters in their opening 30 days.