On Monday, the NBA and NFL went head-to-head on Christmas Day for the fourth year running. Although one would expect both to have their own fan base and it won’t affect much to the viewership, the numbers were quite shocking. Despite having more than 55 followers on Instagram and more games on Christmas Day, the NBA’s viewership trailed by around 880% to the NFL.
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The NBA’s slate featured five games: The New York Knicks hosting the Milwaukee Bucks, the Golden State Warriors travelling to Colorado to face the Denver Nuggets, the Los Angeles Lakers battling old rivals Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat welcoming the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Phoenix Suns taking on the Dallas Mavericks at home. The NFL had only three games: The Kansas City Chiefs v Las Vegas Raiders, the Philadelphia Eagles vs New York Giants, and the San Francisco 49ers vs Baltimore Ravens.
According to the trend, it is found that The NBA reserves Christmas Day to pit its biggest teams against each other, while the NFL does not divulge from its normal schedule unless Christmas falls on a Monday, Thursday, or Saturday. Despite the NBA’s added emphasis on its Christmas Day slate, the NFL dominated viewership.
The three NFL games averaged 28.47 million viewers each, while four NBA games (data for the Heat’s game against the 76ers isn’t available yet) combined for 12.9 million views total. The four NBA games in question averaged only 3.22 million reviews despite featuring the league’s most storied franchises.
The NBA is a significantly better-known league around the globe than the NFL. As mentioned earlier, the basketball league has a 55.5 million followers gap between the two leagues’ Instagram followers. The NBA also has 10.8 million more followers on X, formerly known as Twitter. Despite dominating the social media space, the NFL remains the king of viewership in the United States.
Why does the NFL dominate the NBA in viewership?
The reason why the NFL is lightyears ahead of the NBA in terms of average viewership is due to the volume of games. Each NBA team plays 82 regular-season games, while in the NFL, the regular-season is only 17 games long.
Fans of an NFL team get the chance to watch their teams play only once a week for only four and a half months, making it an exclusive event. On the flip side, fans of an NBA team can watch their team play every alternate day for six months. The NFL playoffs also have much higher stakes, since it is win-or-go-home. However, in the NBA playoffs, teams can mount a comeback and advance to the next round even if they lose three games in a row.
The NBA also doesn’t televise all 82 games. Fans are forced to buy the league pass or use the local cable service provider to watch their favourite team. If a fan doesn’t reside in the area where their team plays, they are forced to buy the league pass. The NBA does have nationally televised. However, even the most televised team, the Golden State Warriors, gets only 41 games, which is half their schedule.
NBA fans are also incensed with the increased flopping in the league and the soft fouls that are seemingly handed out in every game. Joel Embiid, the reigning league MVP, has built a reputation as a serial flopper but continues to manipulate referees into blowing their whistles and sending him to the free-throw line.
To sum up, the NFL is an exclusive product and is more accessible to fans. The stakes feel high with every passing game in the NFL’s regular season, which isn’t the case with the NBA. The NBA can fix some of the issues to catch up to the NFL’s viewership number. However, until then, they will continue lagging.
