The 42-8 Spurs lead the NBA not only in wins, but in television ratings as well.
The Spurs have averaged a 10.0 rating on Fox Sports Southwest through January, according to Sports Business Journal, up 57% from last year, and the highest average rating in the NBA.
Should the Spurs keep up this pace the rest of the season, they would top the average rating for the 1997-98 Bulls (8.9), still the highest local average for any NBA team over the past fourteen seasons.
The Jazz (6.0) rank second in the league, followed by the league’s highest profile teams — the LeBron James-fueled Heat rank third (5.4), the two-time defending champion Lakers rank fourth (4.9), and the heavyweight Celtics rank fifth (4.8).
While the small-market Spurs (#37) and Jazz (#31) lead the way in ratings, the top four teams in terms of household viewership hail from one of the nation’s top ten markets — the Lakers (278K), Bulls (141K), Celtics (118K) and Knicks (115K).
The Spurs rank in a tie for fifth with the Heat, at 85,000 homes.
The Blake Griffin-led Clippers (up 75% on FS Prime Ticket) and Kevin Love-led Timberwolves (up 86% on FS North) rank among the five teams with the largest increases in ratings from last season. The Heat (118%), Bulls (up 60%) and Spurs make up the rest of the top five.
On the flip side, the Cavaliers have suffered a league-leading 53% decline for their games, as their rating has plunged from the mid-eights last year to a 4.1 this year. That parallels the decline in ratings of the 1998-99 Bulls, who averaged a 4.4 rating on FSN Chicago through March of ’99, down 51% from the previous year’s full season average of 8.9.
(Sports Business Journal, 2/7/11)
