LeBron, Steph Curry, and Mickey Mouse deliver NBA's most watched season game since 2019 with Christmas Day matchup

A Christmas Day game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors was watched by more fans than any NBA regular-season game in the last five years.

After putting together the best possible matchup and returning to a traditional Christmas message, the NBA raked in far more viewers than expected. With 4 million sets of eyeballs tuning in on Christmas in 2023, reports estimated the league would be happy with simply beating that mark and would be ecstatic if viewership approached 6 million.

It would seem network executives' letters to Santa were answered, however, as the Lakers-Warriors game averaged 7.76 million viewers (peaking at 8.32 million), making it the most watched NBA regular season game since 2019.

The entire slate of Christmas games was the league's most watched in five years, ESPN reported, with an average viewership of 5.25 million. This total was an 84% increase over 2023.

'There goes Goofy, straight to the rack!'

ESPN producers will certainly be on Santa's nice list for 2024 after pulling out all the stops to procure such shocking numbers.

The broadcasts included a focus on saying "merry Christmas" and simultaneously capitalized on Disney's animated characters to pull at viewers' heartstrings. This involved Mickey Mouse making a wish that his friends could play basketball on Christmas, a wish Santa granted in the form of an alternate ESPN broadcast.

On ESPN2, Disney+, and ESPN+, the San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks game was offered as an animated broadcast called "Dunk the Halls."

The animated version had Disney characters overlaid on top of NBA players at times, resulting in offensive maneuvers from Donald Duck and defensive plays by Minnie Mouse, among others. The broadcast also had its own announcer crew, which featured hilarious commentary simply by way of what happened on-screen.

"There goes Goofy, straight to the rack! Oh my gosh!" ESPN's Drew Carter said at one point. "Inside, outside ... Goofy can't be stopped!" he later added.

The broadcast was similar to ESPN's "Monday Night Football" game earlier in the month that saw characters from "The Simpsons" take the place of football stars in an animated version of an NFL game.

Media members pointed out that the NFL's Christmas games ended in the afternoon, leaving the NBA Christmas as the only sports broadcast in the country at 7:30 p.m. ET.

As well, the NBA aired its 2024 Christmas games on ESPN and ABC, as opposed to only ESPN in 2023.

Nevertheless, the league took a gamble and was successful.

Audiences were clearly happy with how much effort was put into the broadcast, with the Christmas messaging providing a welcome break from any sort of activism the NBA has become known for in recent years.

Pushing positive Christmas messages worked well for the NFL on Netflix, as well, resulting in the platform's highest concurrent viewership on Christmas Day in four years.

Also, the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers was Netflix's second-most popular live broadcast ever.

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