NBA Courting Viewers Despite Lockout

ESPN, NBA TV, TNT Viewership Up Double Digits During First Month of Season

By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 1/30/2012 12:01:00 AM

National Basketball Association Fans welcomed the league back with open arms during the first month of the NBA’s truncated season as ESPN, TNT and NBA TV drew strong ratings returns for their live game coverage.

Concerns that the league’s 149-day lockout would sour fans on tuning into regular-season games were unfounded as cable networks posted double-digit increases for NBA telecasts during the first month of the league’s shortened 66-game schedule. Th e performances were led by TNT, which averaged 3.1 million viewers to date for its 13- game slate, which began with a Boston Celtics-New York Knicks Christmas Day season-opening telecast. That’s up a whopping 67% versus the same period in 2010-11, and well above the 2.5 million viewers generated for its network record-setting 2010-11 NBA season, according to network officials.

Not to be outdone, NBA TV drew 374,000 viewers for 28 game telecasts for the period of Dec. 26 to Jan. 24, a 63% increase over the network’s 2011 season performance. (Nielsen began rating NBA TV on Jan. 1, 2011).

Christina Miller, general manager of NBA TV, said she’s not surprised at the early ratings performance of NBA games on the channel. Its strong ratings start included a network-high 756,000 viewers for its Jan. 14 Los Angeles Lakers-Los Angeles Clippers contest, erasing the previous high of 772,000 viewers for a Chicago Bulls-Los Angeles Clippers contest two weeks earlier on Dec. 30.

“We always believed in the long-term strength of the NBA, and I think there is a strong, deep aff ection for the league among fans, and as long as [the league] is delivering performances night after night, I think the fans will reward that by showing up and tuning in,” she said. “From the fi rst shot on Christmas Day, I think it’s been a great season, with the emergence of young teams like the [Minnesota] Timberwolves with Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love, the Los Angeles Clippers with Blake Griffi n, and Oklahoma City, as well as the Lakers, Knicks and Celtics.”

ESPN’s vice president of programming Leah LaPlaca said the league’s condensed schedule, in which teams can play as many as three games over consecutive days, has also contributed to the increase in the network’s NBA viewership over the past month. ESPN is averaging 2.1 million viewers through 14 games so far this season, up 21% over the 1.7 million viewers through 13 games during the same period in 2010-11. Th e network is pacing above the 2 million viewers it generated during the 2010-11 season, which generated a 29% uptick over the previous season’s telecasts.

“There’s certainly no dearth of NBA action on any given night — it seems the [league’s] stars are playing every night, so there’s always something for NBA fans to talk about that’s fueling interest and keeping the league top of mind for fans,” LaPlaca said.

Both NBA TV’s Miller and ESPN’s LaPlaca believe that their respective networks can maintain their hot ratings start throughout the rest of the NBA campaign.

“There’s nothing right now that would signal any slowdown — there’s a lot of momentum, and fans are really interested again,” LaPlaca said. “Because the stars are playing so often, there are lots of highlights and good stories to keep the momentum going.”