Particularly on Saturday night, it was a weekend to forget for the NBA on ABC.
Clippers-Bulls scored a 1.3 overnight rating on the latest edition of ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime, down a tick from Rockets-Bulls last year (1.4) and the lowest overnight for an NBA game on broadcast television in a decade — since Suns-Kings opposite the NCAA Tournament in 2007 (1.2). The previous low over that span was a 1.4 for multiple games.
Overall, the 1.3 is the second-lowest in the 15-year history of the NBA on ABC, and likely the second-lowest ever for the NBA on broadcast television.
The Clippers’ win was doubled head-to-head by the Duke-North Carolina college basketball game on ESPN (2.6). Last year’s Rockets-Bulls telecast did not face Duke-UNC, which aired in an earlier timeslot.
Sunday’s Warriors-Knicks game did much better with a 2.6 overnight, but that was still down 10% from Warriors-Lakers last year. Overnights did improve 15% over the comparable Clippers-Warriors game in 2015 (2.3). The Warriors’ win tied Duke-UNC for second place among sporting events over the weekend, trailing only the NASCAR race from Atlanta (3.6).
(Wknd. numbers from ESPN, with additional info from Sports Business Daily 3.6)
