The 2022-23 NBA regular season averaged 1.59 million viewers across ABC, ESPN and TNT, down slightly from last year’s average of 1.61 million viewers.
The figure represents the fifth least-watched season of the past 30 years, with the past four seasons ranking among the six least-watched seasons over that time.
The most watched regular season over the past 30 years was the lockout-shortened 1998-1999 campaign which averaged 3.1 million viewers on national television.
The NBA accounted for 3% of primetime viewership this year, the highest in the past 20 years.
Compared to other major sports, Major League Baseball averaged 936,000 viewers across its national television partners. The NHL averaged 470,000 viewers, while college basketball averaged 371,000 viewers.