SBJ Media: Streaming lifts NBA teams’ local audiences

I’m headed to some Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate at Truist Park in Atlanta on Tuesday night. It’s a quick trip south for my first college baseball game of the season, so I’m pumped. This is the first time ever that Georgia Tech and Georgia will meet with both teams ranked in the top five (391 total games), and having the annual Spring Classic at the Braves’ ballpark also brings something extra to the rivalry. I like the odds for my Yellow Jackets, who are 17-1 in night games this season amid the team’s best start since 2010.

The Nuggets, Pistons, 76ers, Bulls and Trail Blazers led the way in increases among NBA game local audiences this season, with in-market streaming continuing to make gains among viewers, sources told SBJ.

Among the 25 measurable teams, 14 NBA clubs saw local audience increases compared to last season (exact percentage declines were not available for the 25 teams). Eleven of those 14 teams with gains made the playoffs. And teams didn’t suffer from the 17 days of the Winter Olympics in February, as local NBA figures during the Milan Cortina Games stayed relatively even with the average from the four weeks prior to the Olympics.

“Fans are finding these teams no matter where they’re ending up,” said Craig Sloan, CEO of Playfly Sports. “If you look at a weighted average across the last 10 years, we’ve not seen degradation in audience. ... In the local markets, [the NBA is] still one of the top-rated programs.”

The streaming audience for local NBA games also continues to move in a positive direction. “Just two years ago, [streaming] was about 5%-6% of the audience,” noted Sloan. “It’s now over 15% of the total consumption [for local audiences]. ... We are clearly on a trajectory to be at least a third of the audience over the next couple of years.”

Ups and downs

Only one of the top five teams in season-long gains were on a Main Street Sports Group RSN — the Pistons. It was the second straight season that games on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit were in the league’s top five, but next season, the Pistons are in search of a new local TV home with Main Street folding. The Trail Blazers also were in the top five again, with their games airing OTA on Rip City Television Network and streaming on BlazerVision.

The Bulls bounced back from being one of the bottom-five teams last season, which was the club’s first on Chicago Sports Network after leaving a longtime home on NBC Sports Chicago. The 76ers also rebounded from the bottom five last season to draw a big uptick on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Looking ahead, the teams that have work to do for next season’s numbers are the Celtics, Warriors, Cavaliers, Kings and Lakers, as each of those clubs saw sharp drops for 2025-26.

Clubs that Playfly didn’t measure this season were the Nets, Mavericks, Pelicans, Raptors and Wizards. But while viewership numbers weren’t available for the Wizards, internal data from ViewLift noted that the Monumental+ network saw its DTC subs jump 141% this season, with minutes watched up 124%.

NESN President David Wisnia told me that his company remains “active” in discussions to operate or buy local media operations for teams, which join the fold alongside the Red Sox, Bruins, Penguins and Pirates.

“If there’s an opportunity that makes sense for us, for them, we’ll happily have those conversations,” he said. “We’re open for business ... whether it’s a partnership or M&A.”

Wisnia called the relationship operating SportsNet Pittsburgh (SNP) “very successful.” NESN is likely to continue with that operation once the sale of the Penguins closes.

But in looking at other potential teams, Wisnia noted his company needs to be aggressive in the marketplace as these franchises look for solutions. “Everybody has a very challenging dynamic,” he said.

Wisnia added that costs have been cut across NESN and SNP, with overhead down 11% since he became its president in 2024. Churn rates are also down over 50%, and in-market DTC continues to grow.

It’s going to be a busy Thursday night for sports. ABC, ESPN and the NFL Network will carry what should be a solid audience for the first round of the NFL Draft (especially with the large-market N.Y. Giants having two picks in the top 10). It’s a busy night in N.Y. alone, as Knicks-Hawks is one of three Prime Video NBA first-round playoff games that night. Fox has Yankees-Red Sox. TNT/TBS/truTV are airing three NHL first-round playoff games (no worries about the N.Y. market there, as the Devils, Rangers and Islanders all missed the postseason). And for those looking to scratch the college football itch, the reigning national champion Indiana Hoosiers have their spring game in prime time on Big Ten Network.

I’m keeping my eye on who might become the next commissioner of the Big East now that Val Ackerman is retiring after this school year. But media rights won’t be an immediate need for the conference, which just started six-year pacts with Fox, NBC and TNT Sports. ESPN+ also got a small sliver of the media pie.

At last week’s CAA World Congress of Sports, Fox Sports’ Eric Shanks gave a shoutout to RedBird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale for making the connection with Zlatan Ibrahimović, who will be an analyst for the FIFA World Cup. Cardinale also owns AC Milan, where Ibrahimović played from 2010-12 and 2019-23.

It’s a small feature, but shoutout to ESPN and producer Phil Orlins for highlighting announcers’ names when they are speaking during UFL broadcasts. This is something ESPN launched during “MNF Playbook with Next Gen Stats” at the end of last season. I found this to be helpful while tuning into the UFL for a little bit, as there are a lot of additional voices/audio feeds on those broadcasts.

• The latest episode of the SBJ Sports Media Podcast has Josh Carpenter and I breaking down Masters viewership, media rights for the Preakness Stakes, a strong NBA regular season on TV and the DOJ investigation into the NFL.
• The CAA World Congress of Sports dissected media issues through several panels, such as Netflix’s Bela Bajaria laying out the streamer’s strategy for sports, Fox’s Eric Shanks talking about the network’s plans for the World Cup and brands and leagues tapping into the audiences of streamers on YouTube, TikTok and other platforms.
• The NBA saw its best regular-season viewership since 2018-19, averaging 1.78 million viewers a game in the first year of media pacts with ESPN/ABC, NBC/Peacock and Prime Video. That’s the best figure since ESPN/ABC and TNT averaged 1.8 million seven years ago, and up 16% from last year.
• CBS Sports added “Scorecard,” a live, post-round show on CBS Sports HQ, Paramount+ and CBS Golf’s YouTube channel following the completion of CBS’ Saturday and Sunday telecasts, reports SBJ’s Josh Carpenter.
• Fox Sports is putting on the “Eternal City Tip-Off” featuring Notre Dame and Villanova men’s and women’s basketball teams facing off in Rome on Nov. 1, writes SBJ’s Ben Portnoy.
• ESPN scored upticks for its season-ending high school basketball tourney, the Chipotle Nationals across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, including the best audience for the event in 11 years. The boys championship drew 741,000 viewers, up 87%, while the girls championship averaged 191,000 – up 244%.
• SBJ’s Richard Deitsch reports Fox hired Clarence Seedorf, the Dutch footballing legend, to work as a World Cup studio analyst this summer. Seedorf has been a regular part of Amazon Prime’s coverage of the Champions League in the U.K., as well as its coverage of Italian football.