TNT has announced an NBA ratings record – ending an apparent slide in the league’s viewership.
And the huge audience was due to Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers.
APLuka Doncic helped TNT achieve a record NBA audience[/caption] GettyDoncic came up against his former team, the Dallas Mavericks, for the first time[/caption]Doncic, 25, was controversially traded by the Mavericks to the Lakers.
The trade shocked everybody, including the Slovenian superstar.
Dallas fans were left in uproar over the move while Los Angeles became a serious player in the Western Conference.
Doncic came up against his former team for the first time this week in a game televised live on TNT.
The Lakers ran out 107-99 winners at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
And TNT announced that the audience peaked at 2.9 million viewers.
That made it the most watched NBA regular-season cable game this year, excluding opening night.
It was also the most watched NBA regular-season game ever on streaming service Max.
The NBA’s TV ratings have been the subject of discussion amid annually dwindling viewers.
Some fans have criticized the quality of NBA broadcasts on social media.
Year-over-year ratings plummeted in the first half of the 2024-2025 season, with viewership declining as much as 25%.
The ratings have steadily improved in the second half of the season, but still haven’t caught up with last year’s numbers.
Currently, the NBA averages 1.76 million viewers across ESPN and TNT, down 5% from the previous year according to Nielsen.
The NBA isn’t the only league suffering from waning viewership, however.
NHL ratings are down 11%, even as the league reported massive ratings for its international 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
The NFL, meanwhile, experienced a ratings decline of 2%.
But the Super Bowl earlier this month was watched by a record audience of more than 127 million.
The NBA has a new 11-year TV deal kicking in next season worth a reported $76 billion.
TNT will be replaced by Amazon Prime while ESPN will continue.
And the league will return to NBC as part of the new contract.
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