They’re playing basketball, and on Tuesdays, NBA fans are tuning in like never before this century.
NBC’s newly minted “Coast 2 Coast Tuesday”, a bi-coastal doubleheader split across NBC and Peacock, averaged 3.0 million viewers in primetime across broadcast and streaming on its debut, giving the NBA its largest pre-Christmas Tuesday audience since 1996, the company announced.
The figures are based on official Nielsen Big Data + Panel and digital data from Adobe Analytics and come on a night featuring direct competition from Game 4 of the 2025 World Series.
Michael Jordan and the Bulls defeated Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, and the LA Lakers, 129-123 in an overtime thriller on December 17, 1996, in front of 3.9 million viewers on TNT. That game during Bryant’s rookie season was the first time he and Jordan played against each other.
When scaled across platforms, NBC’s 3 million figure combines traditional broadcast reach with Peacock streaming, showing live sports still bring mass audiences even as viewing habits fragment. The broadcast network was a slam dunk with younger viewers, too. NBC led national partners in under-35 viewership during NBA Tip-Off week. Streaming was a big assist via an alley-oop of Average Minute Audience (AMA) on Peacock and NBC digital clocks in separately at 878,000.
NBC Leaves Its Mark in the NBA’s Streaming Era
NBCUniversal has been reworking its sports stack throughout recent years. The company is relaunching NBC Sports Network later this year and continues to lean in to cross-platform presentation in a digital age, mixed with some nostalgia. By marrying linear scale with streamer flexibility and branding, NBCU is using live sports to hedge against churn.
Peacock reported financial pressure in Q3 even as subs held steady, so delivering blockbuster live events is a strategic way to justify the product to advertisers and subscribers alike. By using the NBA’s appointment viewing power, NBC can continue to deliver for bigger audiences and stronger young-demo numbers than many networks get for regular season games.
