The Warriors’ run to 73 wins boosted all four of the NBA’s television partners, but the league’s viewership continues to trend below earlier in the decade.
All four NBA broadcast partners posted year-over-year gains in viewership during the 2015-16 season. ABC led the way with a 2.3 rating and 3.9 million for 16 telecasts, up a tick in ratings and 9% in viewership from last year (2.2, 3.6M) and flat and up 10%, respectively, from 2013-14 (2.3, 3.6M). Its eight Saturday night broadcasts averaged a 2.1 and 3.5 million.
On cable, ESPN averaged a 1.1 and 1.7 million for 76 telecasts — up a tick in ratings and 10% in viewership from last year (1.0, 1.5M) and flat and down 2%, respectively, from 2013-14 (1.68M to 1.65M). TNT’s 52-game schedule also averaged 1.7 million, up 1% from last year but down 11% from 2013-14. NBA TV averaged 345,000, up 19% from last year and its highest total since becoming Nielsen rated in 2010.
The Warriors fueled this year’s increases, averaging a league-best 3.0 million viewers* for 30 nationally televised games (not including NBA TV). The Cavaliers ranked second with 2.6 million for 25. Golden State played in ten of the 17 most-watched games this season, including the most-watched regular season game since 2011 and the two most-watched non-Christmas games since 2013. Game-by-game viewership is available on page two.
While the across-the-board increases are no doubt impressive, the NBA has not yet bounced back to the level it reached at the start of the decade, when LeBron James‘ Miami Heat were the focal point of the league. ABC averaged a 2.9 and 4.7 million in the 2012-13 season, a 3.3 and 5.4 million in 2011-12 and a 3.0 and 5.1 million in 2010-11. TNT averaged 2.5 million in back-to-back seasons from 2010-11 to 2011-12, and ESPN’s averages were also higher then than now, peaking at 2.0 million in 2010-11.
Though comparable to James’ last two years in Miami, 2013-14 (3.1M) and 2012-13 (2.9M), national viewership for Warriors games was still no match for the Heat in 2011-12 (3.7M) or 2010-11 (4.0M) — the boom years of post-Decision acrimony.
Keep in mind that the Warriors’ TV schedule was not always ideal. Half of their games against the Spurs, the closest thing they have to a rival, aired on NBA TV — including their 72nd win of the season. Their 71st and 73rd wins aired during other nationally televised NBA games, with the latter facing competition from Kobe Bryant‘s career finale. A full five telecasts, including wins #71 and #73, were blacked out in the Bay Area for exceeding NBA limits on national appearances.
Perhaps all things being equal, Golden State would have been closer to those Miami teams. In the meantime, the NBA will need the league’s most popular team to become even more of a draw next season if it wants to get back to its post-Jordan prime.
* Unlike the official Nielsen averages, the team-by-team averages presented are not weighted by telecast duration.
(Season averages from ESPN, twitter.com/austinkarp, Turner Sports)
