NFL Smashes NBA in Viewership After Lebron Claims ‘Christmas Is Our Day’

Christmas Day no longer belongs to the NBA, no matter what LeBron James says.

“The Baltimore Ravens‘ 31-2 victory over the Houston Texans averaged 24.3 million, and the Kansas City Chiefs‘ 29-10 win at the Pittsburgh Steelers averaged 24.1 million, according to early viewer figures released by Nielsen on Thursday,” the Associated Press reports.

Not only did those incredible numbers make both games of the NFL Christmas Day double-header the most streamed NFL games in U.S. history, but they nearly quintupled the NBA’s viewership numbers.

The NBA, which had a five-game Christmas Day slate, averaged 5.25 million viewers.

But wait, it gets even worse for the NBA. The two NFL games were streamed exclusively on Netflix, with no simulcast on any of the league’s traditional family of networks. Viewers had to have a Netflix subscription to watch the games.

The NBA slate, however, was on both ESPN and ABC. This means that even though the NBA games were available to a vastly larger audience, the NFL still soundly trounced the NBA games by nearly five times.

Not to mention that most of the NBA games were close and competitive, while the NFL games were both blowouts. It made no difference. America still chose the NFL.

After his team defeated the Golden State Warriors, LeBron James went to the cameras and issued a stark warning to the NFL.

“I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day,” James said.

“The numbers speak for themselves and LeBron can have his own view, and I’m sure more people will look at that because of this,” said Hans Schroeder, executive vice president of NFL Media. “But, you know, we’re focused on the NFL, and we’re thrilled with the results this year with the Christmas on Netflix, and we’re excited to continue to build that over the next couple of years.”

Sixty-five million Americans – nearly 20 percent of the country – watched at least one minute of one of the two games.

The NBA saw an 84% increase in viewership for this year’s Christmas slate. A fact they will no doubt use to prove that their early-season ratings struggles are no cause for panic. However, that astronomical increase is misleading.

Last year, three of the five NBA games were offered exclusively on cable. This year, all five were on ABC. In addition, the NBA night game was on the air at the same time as an NFL game. This year, the NBA’s late game aired unopposed.

In other words, news of the NBA’s ratings resurgence is massively overblown.

The NFL is king, not LeBron James.