Ten years after setting a record-low on broadcast television, and after an early-decade surge that saw ratings return to NBC levels, the NBA on ABC fell back to square one this season.
ABC averaged a 1.9 rating and 3.3 million viewers for 19 NBA regular season windows this season, down 17% in ratings and viewership from last year (2.3, 3.9M) and down 14% and 9% respectively from two years ago (2.2, 3.6M). The 1.9 rating is the lowest ever for an NBA season on broadcast television, falling below the previous mark of 2.0 in the 2006-07 campaign.
In addition to the record-low rating, this season was the least-watched on ABC since 2007-08 (3.26M to 3.18M).
ABC’s Clippers-Spurs season finale last Saturday earned a 1.2 and 1.9 million, down a tick in ratings and 1% in viewership from Cavaliers-Bulls last year (1.3, 2.0M), a game that was cannibalized by competing NBA action on ESPN. It was ABC’s sixth game this season with a rating of 1.2 or lower, compared to seven in the previous 14 seasons combined.
NBA Saturday Primetime ended up averaging a 1.8 rating and 2.9 million viewers, down 14% in ratings and 15% in viewership from last year (2.1, 3.5M).
ABC was hurt by a variety of factors, the most publicized of which was player rest. The Warriors sat all of their stars for a highly anticipated game against the Spurs in March, which ended up with a mere 1.5 rating — less than half of what the same matchup had the previous year (3.1). The very next week, the defending champion Cavaliers rested their stars against the Clippers in a game that, at the time, tied the NBA’s lowest ever rating on broadcast TV (1.0).
Overall, LeBron James and Stephen Curry played in just seven of ABC’s 19 regular season windows. As for the remaining twelve? The moribund Bulls and Knicks, past-their-prime Clippers, generally-unknown Celtics and perennially low-profile Spurs and Jazz. The one glamour matchup in that mix — Thunder-Rockets in a battle of MVP candidates — ended up with the lowest rating of all, an all-time record low 0.9 opposite the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.
Despite the record-low numbers, the NBA on ABC still topped Major League Baseball on FOX last season (1.3, 2.0M) and the NHL on NBC this season (1.2M). NBA Saturday Primetime also outdrew the MLB on FOX Saturday night package, Baseball Night in America (1.5, 2.4M).
(Season avg. from ESPN)
