For all the talk of declining ratings, the NBA All Star Game is still one of the prime cable television properties.
Since moving to TNT in 2003, the NBA All Star Game has dropped in the ratings every single year. After drawing a stellar 10.8 million viewers in ’03, viewership levels dropped to just over 8 million in 2004 and 2005, and the game has shed approximately one million more viewers in the two years since. Last year, the game drew a 4.2 national rating with 6.8 million viewers, a solid audience for cable, but also the smallest ever.
So why would the game still be considered a prime property?
The All Star Game usually finishes as one of the top rated sporting events on cable. In 2007, the lowest rated All Star Game ever was surpassed only by a combined six NBA and MLB Playoff games, NFL games, the MLB Home Run Derby and a Labor Day college football game.
And while the trend has been toward lower ratings for the NBA’s midseason showcase, this year may finally buck the trend. With NBA ratings up across the board, and with the recently completed writer’s strike leaving the networks without fresh programming for the immediate future, Sunday’s All Star Game could very well be the highest rated, most watched in three years.
The NBA need only look to the Pro Bowl for inspiration. After years of declining ratings, and with pundits complaining about the game’s irrelevance, the 2008 Pro Bowl was the highest rated in eight years — drawing a 6.3/12 on FOX Sunday evening.
Even if the rating does not rise quite that high, TNT can expect another solid audience — not just for the game on Sunday, but for the entire weekend. Last year, spurred by a footrace between analyst Charles Barkley and NBA referee Dick Bavetta, TNT drew its best numbers ever for NBA All Star Saturday Night.
NBA All Star Game ratings.
(since 2000; all ratings are national ratings)
2007: 4.2 (Sun., Feb. 18, TNT)
2006: 4.3 (Sun., Feb. 19, TNT)
2005: 4.9 (Sun., Feb. 20, TNT)
2004: 5.1 (Sun., Feb. 15, TNT)
2003: 6.6 (Sun., Feb. 9, TNT)
2002: 8.2 (Sun., Feb. 10, NBC)
2001: 5.1 (Sun., Feb. 11, NBC)
2000: 6.9 (Sun., Feb. 13, NBC)
