With nearly every conceivable star player missing from the second round of the playoffs, and with ABC recording massive drops in ratings from last year to this year, one would imagine that the ratings picture was awful across the board for the NBA.
Not the case. Viewership for playoff games on TNT and ESPN is only down four percent from last year — and considering how good the ratings were last year, that is far from being a crisis. In fact, “broadcast and cable viewership is down 7 percent to 2.6 million viewers from 2.8 million last season.”
Obviously, a drop is still a drop, and still far from what the league would prefer. However, with all the factors pointing to terrible record low numbers, it can only be a good sign that the numbers are as close as they are to the ones posted last season.
When the steepest decline is only 6%, and when viewership has only dropped from 2.5 million to 2.4 million, one can say that the league is, if not doing well, then at least not doing badly either. The fact that the ratings are flat among the key M 18-34 and M 18-49 demographics is also a positive sign. The only — and biggest — weak spot for the NBA Playoffs is on ABC.
So far, ABC has aired six playoff games. No game has drawn a rating higher than 3.3 (the final ratings for Nets/Cavaliers and Spurs/Suns will come later in the week). ABC registered the lowest average for the first round of the playoffs ever — for any network. The four first round games the network aired averaged a 2.7 rating, tied with baseball on FOX. Despite airing games featuring the defending champion Miami Heat, the Steve Nash-led Phoenix Suns, and the large market Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, ABC playoff games have been garnering massive declines.
The biggest factor in those declines is the disinterest of small market America. ABC has been drawing decent overnights; games drew metered market ratings of 2.9, 3.9, 3.2 and 4.3, contrasting with final ratings of 2.2, 3.0, 2.4 and 3.3, respectively. In addition to faltering among small-town America, NBA games on ABC have also been failing among key demographics. “All male demos are also down: 7 percent among men 18-34, 12 percent among men 18-49 and 21 percent among men 25-54.” The decline among M 18-34 is manageable, but the drop among men 25-54 may be more telling than anything of the media-led cultural divide between the NBA and the average Joe.
The fact that older men and small-town America are both tuning out the NBA should be unsurprising. Stereotypes and misguided perceptions have painted the NBA as a league of wanton thugs. That certainly could play a factor in the ratings drop, especially among those two groups.
Or, fans could simply be fed up with the Heat and Lakers — two teams that have been featured on ABC the maximum amount of times for the past three seasons. After all, Spurs/Suns yesterday drew a 4.5 overnight rating — the highest of the postseason.
No matter what the reason, the bad performance of ABC is what is dragging down the overall ratings the most. Could that change with more compelling match-ups like Bulls/Pistons and Suns/Spurs? And will the relatively decent performance of cable networks TNT and ESPN be adversely affected by small-market series like Golden State/Utah and New Jersey/Cleveland? All of that will be decided in the crucial upcoming weeks.
