As sports fans gather around their televisions and phones on Christmas Day, they will wrestle with a few questions that both children and adults often weigh when they sit around the Christmas tree.
Which present should they open first? Which one will they enjoy the most?
In the sports world, the NBA became the answer to both of those questions. The NBA featured marquee games on Christmas Day both to attract loyal viewers and a general audience. For the past three years, however, the NFL has also showcased games on Christmas.
That tradition will continue.
The NBA will feature five games, including the New York Knicks vs Milwaukee Bucks (noon ET, ESPN), the Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors (2:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN), the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics (5 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN), the Miami Heat vs. Philadelphia 76ers (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) and the Phoenix Suns vs. Dallas Mavericks (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).
The NFL will have a triple header, including the Kansas City Chiefs vs Las Vegas Raiders (1 p.m. ET, CBS), the Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants (4:30 p.m. ET, Fox) and the San Francisco 49ers vs the Baltimore Ravens (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN).
“Obviously, plenty of people will watch the NFL, too,” said Ryan Ruocco, one of ESPN’s NBA play-by-play announcers. “But I think a lot of people will still watch their NBA on Christmas.”
NBA Christmas Day TV rating experience dip vs. NFL
League and television officials concede that the NFL will always attract more viewers than the NBA, including on Christmas Day. While the NFL’s three-game set last year averaged 21.9 million viewers, the NBA’s five-game slate averaged 4.27 million viewers.
The NBA still considered those numbers to be relatively successful. The reasons?
Viewership increased overall by five percent from 2021, which drew an average of 4.08 million viewers. The Sixers’ win over the Knicks averaged 4.04 million viewers, marking the league’s most-watched Christmas Day game in the noon ET slot since 2011. The Celtics’ win over the Bucks attracted a league-best average of 6.033 million viewers, a 16 percent increase from the NBA’s 5 pm ET slot in 2021. The Suns-Nuggets contest became the most-watched Christmas late game since 2015 (averaged 2.49 million viewers). While four games were simulcast on ABC and ESPN, the Knicks-Sixers game was shown on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.
What would the NBA view as successful metrics in 2023? The league hasn’t indicated the number of viewers it expects to draw for its Christmas Day games both through linear cable and steaming devices. But only the Warriors-Nuggets and Laker-Celtics games will be simulcast on both ABC/ESPN, while the other three games will just be on ESPN. Though those developments could affect the overall ratings, the league still appears optimistic it will draw large numbers. There is also optimism some individual matchups could draw more viewers than some of their games on Christmas Day in 2021 when they had a similar simulcast schedule.
Part of the reasons trace to how the league fared with its inaugural In-Season Tournament. The NBA Cup featuring the Lakers and Indiana Pacers averaged 4.58 million viewers on ABC/ESPN2, which marked the most-viewed non-Christmas Day game during the regular season in nearly six years. The NBA’s In-Season Tournament averaged a total of 1.67 million viewers on ABC, ESPN and TNT/truTV, numbers the league says marks an 18% increase from average viewership during the same time period last year.
More importantly, the NBA has offered compelling matchups that could appeal both to devoted and casual fans. They will showcase a game featuring the past two defending champions (Nuggets vs. Warriors) and the league’s biggest rivalry (Lakers-Celtics). They have two other games featuring two former star teammates (Miami’s Jimmy Butler vs Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid; Phoenix’s Kevin Durant vs. Dallas’ Kyrie Irving). And they have a game that featured the same opponents in the In-Season Tournament quarterfinal (Bucks-Knicks).
“You don’t want to assume that everyone tuning in on Christmas knows every storyline about a team,” Ruocco said. “You have to be a little bit more kind to that accidental viewer because you draw a broader audience on Christmas. There are people who are going to watch on Christmas that don’t watch the rest of the regular season. That definitely is something we try to keep in mind.”
NBA hoping to attract younger viewers on Christmas Day
Though the NBA will inevitably cede ground to the NFL on Christmas Day, neither the league nor television officials believe both leagues will cannibalize each other. They believe they are more likely to attract a viewer more interested in the NFL that has casual interest in the NBA than even a casual non-sports fan. The NFL traditionally skews toward an older audience, while the NBA has often appealed to a younger demographic.
Nonetheless, the NBA has programmed its games in hopes that at least some viewers tune in longer. The Knicks-Bucks game airs at noon ET, an hour before Chiefs and Raiders kick off. Though some viewers will inevitably switch to the NFL, the NBA may retain some should the Knicks-Bucks game become competitive. The same development could happen when the Warriors-Nuggets game (2:30 pm ET) overlaps with the Chiefs-Raiders game.
“If Golden State is playing Denver and NFL game has two okay games, I could see the eyeballs going to the NBA more because they want to see Steph Curry,” said Dennis Scott, an NBA TV analyst. “If Kansas City has an exciting game, forget about it. Everybody is watching [Patrick] Mahomes.”
The NBA and NFL will soon find out which of their games will become more compelling. Regardless, expect both leagues to become pleased with their viewership numbers for different reasons. While the NFL will inevitably draw the largest audience, the NBA will still remain relevant in the sports ecosystem.
Mark Medina in an NBA insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on X, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.