Viewership bounced back for the NBA’s annual All-Star Saturday Night festivities.
NBA All-Star Saturday Night averaged 4.6 million viewers across TNT and truTV, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 31% from last year’s low of 3.42 million and the largest audience for the event since it averaged 5.05 million in 2020 (three total telecasts). Viewership matched last year’s actual NBA All-Star Game.
The audience peaked at 5.4 million from 10-10:15 PM ET, during the head-to-head three-point shooting contest between Warriors G Stephen Curry and WNBA Liberty G Sabrina Ionescu.
While the average minute audience increased 31% from last year, the number of viewers who watched at least six minutes of the event jumped 54% to 10 million. The disparity between the average minute and total audience is an indication that the event reached more viewers, though they watched for comparably less time. One could assume that the “Stephen vs. Sabrina” competition is responsible for that statistic.
Viewership was still on the low side historically, as this year’s audience tops only the previous two years as the lowest since at least 2005 (4.59M). Nonetheless, All-Star Saturday Night snapped a year-long streak of declines for “Big Four” All-Star events, becoming the first to post a year-over-year increase since the 2023 NHL All-Star Game on ABC.
