NBA Also Down on Cable, But Overall Picture Better Than on ABC

The NBA’s $2.6 billion/year television deal did not get off to the best start in the Nielsens, but the league’s overall performance was not too bad.

The complete NBA regular season across ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV averaged 1.2 million viewers, down 6% from last year (1.3M) but up a scratch from 2014-15 (from 1.186M to 1.187M). On the league’s three primary broadcast partners — ABC, ESPN and TNT — the season averaged 1.7 million, down about 11% from 1.9 million last year.

As previously noted, ABC averaged its smallest NBA audience since the 2007-08 season (and the lowest rating ever for the NBA on broadcast television). The league’s cable partners were also at-or-near multi-year lows, though the declines were not as pronounced as ABC’s 17% drop.

ESPN averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.6 million viewers for its 82-game NBA schedule, down a tick in ratings and 7% in viewership from a 77-game schedule on ESPN and ESPN2 last year (1.1, 1.7M) and flat but up 4% respectively from 2014-15 (1.0, 1.5M). It was the network’s second-least watched season since 2007-08. The network’s final doubleheader Wednesday fell well short of last year’s abnormally strong numbers — Hawks-Pacers had a 0.7 (-42%) and 1.0 million (-41%) and Pelicans-Blazers a 0.6 (-74%) and 874,000 (-76%).

TNT’s 64-game schedule averaged 1.5 million, down 8% from 53 games last year (1.68M) and its least-watched season since 2007-08 (1.54M to 1.47M). It its final doubleheader Monday, Wizards-Pistons had a 0.6 (-50%) and 862,000 (-50%) and Rockets-Clippers a 0.7 and 1.1 million (-22%). Last year’s comparable games aired on a Tuesday.

ESPN and TNT were hamstrung early in the season by greater-than-usual competition from the NFL and Major League Baseball. Take out ESPN’s seven early season games opposite the World Series or NFL Playoffs, and its decline shrinks to 4% (from 1.65M to 1.59M). Take out TNT’s ten games opposite NBC’s Thursday Night Football, its decline shrinks to 3% (from 1.70M to 1.64M). With that said, those averages would still have been the third-worst for ESPN and the single-worst for TNT since the 2007-08 season.

Excluding games on NBA TV, the league-leading Warriors were the most-watched team during the regular season, averaging 2.8 million for 30 windows across ESPN, ABC and TNT. The Cavaliers averaged 2.4 million over the same number of games. Helped by their four matchups with the Warriors, the Thunder ranked third with 2.0 million — slightly ahead of the Spurs (1.991M to 1.990M). The Knicks were fifth (1.94M), followed by the Celtics (1.71M), Bulls (1.69M), Clippers (1.62M) and Rockets (1.61M). The Pacers were the least-watched (1.10M), behind the Heat (1.11M), Nuggets (1.11M), Nets (1.11M) and Pistons (1.12M).

Again excluding NBA TV, 57 games involving Golden State and/or Cleveland averaged 2.4 million viewers, 77% higher than the 109 games involving neither team (1.4M).

Though average viewership declined, an increase in game windows this year (from 147 to 166) resulted in a greater number of total viewers. The league grossed 89.5 million viewers who watched at least six minutes of any game, up a fraction of a percent from last year (89.2M) and a five-year high. Those viewers watched an average of 51 minutes per game, up from 50 last year.

(Some numbers from NBA)