NBA's Top Advertisers: McDonald's Beefs Up Ad Reach

The NBA just wrapped up an impressive first year of its new media rights deal, including what the league reports is an 86% increase in viewership year-over-year. And with that increased viewership theoretically comes increased ad reach for the bevvy of brands appearing during live games.

• Data from iSpot shows that McDonald's led the way for TV ad reach during national linear NBA games this season – so live ABC, ESPN, NBC and NBA TV games, but excluding contests appearing on Amazon Prime Video and Peacock.
• The brand increased its linear NBA reach by nearly 15% vs. last season, despite a marginal (1.75 more minutes) increase in ad time.
• Part of that climb comes from an adjusted allocation across networks: In 2024-25, 89% of McDonald's NBA ad minutes were on cable. But in 2025-26, that number was just 42% (all ESPN).

While broadcast doesn't always trump cable, the NBA increasing its broadcast footprint with the addition of NBC (instead of TNT) seems to have had a positive impact for the league – as well as brands looking to maximize reach with sports ads.