A lousy season for the NBA on ABC hit its lowest point last weekend.
Cavaliers-Clippers scored a 1.0 final rating and 1.6 million viewers on the latest edition of ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime, down 68% in ratings and viewership from Warriors-Spurs last year, and tied as the lowest rated NBA game ever on broadcast television.
The Clippers’ blowout win matched Rockets-Wizards in 2015 and Suns-Kings in 2007, though it had a larger audience than both of those games (1.3M). All three aired opposite the NCAA Tournament.
Three of the seven lowest rated NBA games on broadcast have come this season alone, with Bulls-Celtics the previous week and Clippers-Bulls two weeks earlier scoring a 1.1. The three games with a 1.1 or lower are the most in a single season for the NBA on a broadcast network.
Saturday’s game was the second straight on ABC in which the featured stars — in this case LeBron James and Kyrie Irving — were absent due to rest or injury. The previous week, the Warriors and Spurs sat every single relevant star (with apologies to Pau Gasol) in a game that netted a 1.5 and 2.5 million.
The back-to-back letdowns have taken a toll on NBA Saturday Primetime, which is now averaging a 1.8 rating and 3.1 million viewers — down 22% in ratings and 17% in viewership from last year (2.3, 3.7M). Full averages for the NBA on ABC were not immediately available, but the all-time record low for an NBA season on broadcast television is a 2.0 rating on ABC ten years ago.
Considering the 1.1 overnight, the NBA was fortunate to avoid its first ever sub-1.0 rating on broadcast television. Compared to other sports, the league’s all-time low is still ahead of the lowest MLB rating ever on broadcast (0.7) and the lowest NHL rating (0.4). Relative to primetime, the NBA’s 1.0 is still ahead of the all-time lows for MLB (0.7), the NHL (0.8) and college football (0.8).
(Wknd. numbers/season avg. from ESPN)
