ESPN’s NBA Viewership Up Across Platforms For 2017-18 Regular Season

ESPN’s NBA viewership for the 2017-18 NBA regular season was up across platforms, according to Nielsen. ESPN averaged 1,628,000 viewers across 87 game telecast this season, up four percent from 1,566,000 last season. The 87 game-schedule marks the most games ESPN has ever aired during the regular season. Additionally, ESPN’s NBA game audience was up in all of the following key demos

M25-54: up 16 percent

P25-54: up 10 percent

M18-49: up 9 percent

M18-34: up 5 percent

P18-34: up 4 percent



Burke Magnus, ESPN executive vice president, programming & scheduling:

“It was a compelling NBA season from start to finish with the emergence of new NBA Championship contenders, more star power and some terrific, top notch competition that we’ve come to expect from the greatest basketball players in the world. We’re always proud to work with our NBA partners to showcase the best action possible, week in and week out.”

ESPN’s NBA studio shows were also up in viewership this season. The Jump, ESPN’s daily NBA show, averaged 376,000 viewers on ESPN this season, up 15 percent from 327,000 viewers on ESPN last season. The Jump also experienced audience growth in key demos, including the following:



P18-34: up 11 percent

P18-49: up 8 percent

M18-34: up 7 percent

M18-49: up 3 percent

NBA Countdown, ESPN’s NBA pre-game show, averaged 637,000 viewers, up one percent from 631,000 viewers last season.

Across the NBA regular season – from opening night until April 11 – NBA content on ESPN digital media logged 169 million users, who spent nearly seven billion minutes, (both year-over-year increases, of 10 percent and 19 percent, respectively.