US ratings for the 2023 NBA and NFL Christmas Day games are back and tilted heavily toward football for the second year in a row.
While it's no surprise that the NFL surpasses the NBA in terms of viewership, the wide gap has grown. alarmed many media outlets and experts because it happened at Christmas. Previously, the holiday was considered a showcase for the NBA, while Thanksgiving was exclusive to the NFL.
Christmas Day Ratings:
Knicks-Bucks: 2.5 million
Warriors-Nuggets, 4.1 million
Lakers-Celtics, 5M
Heat-Sixers, 1.2 million
Mavs-Suns, 1.3 millionRaiders-Chiefs, 29.2 million
Giants-Eagles, 29M
Ravens-49ers, 27.2 million(h/t @sportsrapport) pic.twitter.com/VYNeiZwGTP
— Reception Sports (@FOS) December 28, 2023
But the NFL has successfully stolen Christmas the past two years and this year widened its gap with NBA games. audience decrease compared to last year by up to 73% compared to similar periods. Meanwhile, the three NFL games each average more than 27 million viewers, at least two million more than the most viewers the 2022 NFL holiday games received.
Related: Experts weigh in on the NBA's next media deal and whether ESPN can fend off Amazon and Apple
The NBA's declining viewership is also concerning given the league's looming upcoming media rights deal. His current contract expires after the 2024-25 season, so each viewership data could tip the balance for the NBA.
The drop also comes just weeks after the NBA held what many members of the media believed was a very successful season-opening tournament, which many also believe is a slice of the pie it could sell to a broadcaster. for its next media rights deal.
However, there are some positives for the NBA despite this discouraging news at Christmas.
First, the NFL's initial foray into Christmas Day games may not be a regular occurrence.
Hans Schroeder, the NFL's executive vice president of media distribution, told the Wall Street Journal last week that the league does not plan to broadcast games on Christmas if the holiday falls on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
Most NFL games tend to be played on Sundays, with some primetime games on Mondays and Thursdays, and now occasional exhibition games on Saturdays. These days of the week have allowed for enough rest for the players' brutal schedule, so scheduling games on Tuesday or Wednesday could drastically alter the schedule.
With Christmas landing on Sunday last year and Monday this year, the NFL had the opportunity to try out Christmas games. It has clearly been successful, which is why some believe it is The NFL is unlikely to keep its word.. But in the meantime it's worth noting.
Related: Amazon's Black Friday NFL ratings weren't great, but the $100 million price tag is probably still worth it.
The other point is that the NBA, while it will always compete with the NFL in terms of advertising dollars, still has parts of the market that the NFL won't consider.
Athletic's senior writer Sam Vecen He made these kinds of arguments on X (formerly Twitter).
“The NBA is clearly positioned strongly against others in the 'stock sports' category, which means they are going to be fine with this upcoming television deal in terms of projections and hopes. In the US, they are not going to “To beat the NFL. Thats the reality. But the ability to offer real value above replacement level against the NHL, early-season MLB and scripted programming here is what they need to do, and that's why they're in a good position. And then they continue to have a real capitalization in the international market that they can take advantage of,” Vecenie wrote.
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