Major TV networks had an uneven NBA season ratings-wise. The league's own channel, NBA TV, showed solidly higher viewer growth.
For the 2012-2013 season, NBA TV improved 33% in total
average viewership for its 98 telecasts -- rising to 336,000 viewers versus its full season in 2010-2011 which pulled in 253,000. (The 2011-2012 season was a lock-out shortened season.)
Three of its top five best-viewed games featured the Los Angeles Lakers and the other two, the Miami Heat. The best-rated game was with the Lakers-Portland Trailblazers, which pulled in 868,000
viewers in October 2012. The second-best game was the Indiana Pacers-Miami Heat, with 764,000 viewers. The third-highest-rated game was the Lakers-Los Angeles Clippers, 756,000.
NBA TV's
median age is 35 years old, which it says is the youngest of any sports network. The network also said its digital initiatives had record results: NBA.com had nearly 6.6 billion page views and 3.9
billion video streams and NBA Mobile pulled in more than 86 million video streams this season.
For the 2012-2013 regular NBA season, ABC was down 13% to 4.7 million viewers from the
strike-shortened 2011-2012 season, which took in 5.4 million viewers. ABC had 5.1 million viewers in the 2010-2011 season.
TNT was down 20% to 2.0 million viewers from 2.5 million viewers a
year ago. TNT was at 2.4 million in the 2010-2011 season. ESPN was down 5% to 1.8 million viewers. ESPN was at a 2.0 million viewer average in the 2010-2011 season.
advertisement
advertisement