The NBA announced its Christmas Day TV ratings increased significantly from last year, and the Phoenix Suns versus Denver Nuggets matchup set a viewership record.

On a day in which the league’s holiday viewership improved by 84% from a year ago, the Suns-Nuggets game received an average audience of 3.84 million viewers, the highest for a late-window NBA game on Christmas to date.

The Suns defeated the Nuggets 110-100 on their biggest stage of the season to this point.

The NBA delivered its most-watched Christmas Day in five years, with viewership up 84% vs. last year across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Disney+ and ESPN+. The NBA on Christmas Day averaged 5.25 million viewers per game in the U.S.

The matchup between the @Lakers and @Warriors – the… pic.twitter.com/VjfjL8XQSU

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) December 26, 2024

Each of the five games drew an average of 5.25 million across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Disney+ and ESPN+, according to Nielsen. The Los Angeles Lakers-Golden State Warriors game led the group of five with an average of 7.76 million viewers on the NBA’s most-watched Christmas Day in five years.

NBA ratings across ESPN, ABC and TNT were down 18% from last year coming into Christmas Day, and now that deficit is only 4%, according to Sports Media Watch.

“The NBA emphasizes how special this moment is,” Suns star Kevin Durant told reporters postgame. “They didn’t take today for granted, the fans didn’t take today for granted. So that’s why the viewership is up today, and everybody’s more excited to watch basketball today. So it’s cool, man.

“It’s a weird dialog around the league and the viewership. I see a lot of people blaming the players for it. Something that big is not just one component of why it’s going that way. I feel like it’s a lot of different reasons why viewership may be down, but that’s another discussion. Today was a step in the in the right direction. … Hopefully they stay invested in the game, invested in each player, each team, throughout the rest of the season and not just the playoffs or the finals.”

The NBA had to compete with the NFL on Wednesday, as the NFL scheduled two football games streamed on Netflix. Both games were blowouts, plus they were over in time for the Lakers-Warriors and Suns-Nuggets games to face less competition.

Lakers star LeBron James said during his postgame interview, “I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day.”

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