Bold Opening: The NBA Cup on Prime Video is proving that a big streaming shift isn’t an automatic home run, even for a marquee event.
But here’s where it gets controversial: the first year of full streaming for the NBA Cup knockout round saw attendance fall compared with TNT/ESPN broadcasts in prior years, signaling that simply moving to a new platform doesn’t guarantee immediate audience growth.
Overview
The NBA Cup quarterfinals drew an average of 1.09 million viewers on Amazon Prime Video, which is a 20% drop from last year’s TNT/ESPN window (1.36 million) and a 21% decline from the tournament’s debut year three years ago (1.38 million).
Contextualizing this trend, the dip aligns with other major properties that launched on Prime Video recently. NASCAR this year fell about 16%, and NFL Thursday Night Football in 2022 declined roughly 28%. That said, Prime’s NBA package was up about 3% through a Black Friday doubleheader, suggesting the platform can still gain momentum with time and more exposure.
Game-by-game highlights
Spurs vs. Lakers led the slate, averaging 1.46 million viewers on Wednesday — a 10% uptick compared with Warriors vs. Rockets in the same window on TNT/truTV last year and the only quarterfinal game to rise. Note that Nielsen’s changes—expanding out-of-home viewing in February and adopting a Big Data + Panel approach in September—could account for some or all of this rise.
The Spurs’ win peaked at 1.7 million in the 11 PM ET quarter-hour. The win also delivered notably stronger performances among younger adults: increases of 32% (18-34), 24% (18-49), and 18% (25-54). Prime Video generally skews younger than traditional linear TV.
Wednesday’s Spurs win ranks as the third-most watched Prime program to date, behind the Black Friday doubleheader: Knicks-Bucks (2.11M) and Mavericks-Lakers (2.06M).
Earlier that night, Suns vs. Thunder averaged 1.05 million, down 28% from Hawks vs. Knicks on ESPN last year. Oklahoma City’s 49-point victory, which peaked at 1.2 million in the 8:15 PM ET window, improved their season record to 24-1, tying the 2015-16 Warriors for the best start in NBA history.
Tuesday night featured Knicks vs. Raptors at 1.14 million viewers, down 23% from Mavericks vs. Thunder on TNT/truTV last year (1.49M). Magic vs. Heat drew 736,000 in an earlier 6 PM ET slot, down 39% from Magic vs. Bucks in a later window a year ago (1.2M).
Comparative broadcast landscape
Predictably, Prime Video’s numbers lagged NBC’s Tuesday night audience, which has been setting season highs. The prior week’s Coast 2 Coast Tuesday telecast (Knicks-Celtics in most markets, Thunder-Warriors on the West Coast) averaged a Nielsen-measured 1.4 rating and 2.38 million viewers. Including streaming viewership measured by Adobe Analytics, the figure rose to 3.2 million. On both Nielsen-only and combined bases, those were season highs for the Coast 2 Coast Tuesday series.
Note that Coast 2 Coast Tuesday reports a single combined viewership figure across two games, which advantages the streaming-inclusive total.
Author and source
Jon Lewis has chronicled sports media since 2006 as the founder and primary writer of Sports Media Watch. He can be reached through his site or on X (Twitter) and Bluesky for questions or comments.
Thoughts to consider
- The move to streaming may require patience and platform-specific growth strategies before viewers fully convert to a new home for in-season competition.
- Younger audiences appear to respond positively to Prime Video’s execution in select matchups, suggesting potential for targeted marketing and game-night presentation improvements.
- The broader broadcast ecosystem remains highly competitive on Tuesdays, with NBC delivering strong linear and streaming numbers that set a high bar for any concurrent streaming event.
Discussion question
Do you think the NBA Cup’s streaming-first approach will rebound in subsequent rounds, or is this a structural shift in how fans prefer to watch mid-season tournaments? Share your thoughts below.
