The audience of the 2020 NBA playoffs is made up of 45% white viewers and 55% non-white viewers. The regular seasonâs television ratings dropped by 16 percent. That compares to a 46%/54% respective mix for last yearâs NBA playoffs. There’s a number of factors. The conference finals averaged just 4.18 million viewers across ESPN and TNT. Respondents were given 10 choices and allowed to select more than one of them. However, the ⦠The NBAâs ratings are in an inexplicable free fall after a brief player-led boycott last week. âWeekday afternoon games have certainly hurt, but the first weekend of the NBA Playoffs was no ratings ⦠Overall, the opening day of the pro basketball postseason averaged 1.71 million viewers for ESPN. Warner Todd Huston. As one of the major sports leagues in North America, the National Basketball Association has a long history of partnership with television networks in the US. A new Harris poll reveals that 38% of sports fans are watching fewer NBA games. 2:04. The star power included King James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. “The Lakers’ win ranks as ABC’s least-watched playoff opener in five years (2015 Pelicans-Warriors: 3.49M), with the caveat that this year marked the first time since 2004 that it did not air a game on the opening day of the postseason,” Sports Media Watch added. This led to a further divide between rival factions around the United States. Then, when the NBA Finals tipped off, the ratings ⦠TV ratings have been downtrending for years. NBA Playoff Ratings Down 39 Percent. Rough start for the NBA playoffs. As for the NBA, its season resumed with teams taking part in national anthem protests at Walt Disney World in Orlando. The ratings for the NBA were so poor in the first week of August that Fox News programming â and even Rachel Maddow on MSNBC â beat opening night NBA ratings. Fans around the world were itching to get live team sports back after pretty much every professional league suspended action back in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this is just the continuation of major ratings issues around the Association. NBA Playoff Ratings Crash by 23%, Lowest Watched in 5 Years. The league's ratings were down 20 percent from last year, according to ESPN. See where all 30 teams rank after the first 10 weeks of the 2020-21 season. 1 Sep 2020 76,107. NBA playoff viewership falls off the cliff Ben Strauss of The Athletic takes a deep dive into the television ratings for this yearâs NBA conference finals. Viewership on ABC is down 23 percent and the numbers are down 20 percent overall compared to last year’s playoffs. 327,188. Overall, ratings for the playoffs are down 20 percent from last season, according to data collected from Real GM and ShowBuzz Daily. Itâs a clean, four-game ratings sweep for the NBA Finals. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston. It’s not yet known what has impact the NBA TV ratings during the 2020 playoffs. Furthermore, the first roundâs 1.94 million average is down 40% from two seasons ago, the last time LeBron James participated in the playoffs. 1. Zhong Zhi/Getty Images. NBA Playoff Ratings Crash by 23%, Lowest Watched in 5 Years. Ratings were down 28 percent for the 18-49 demographic for the first week of the playoffs, the data revealed . That’s been pretty much the biggest backdrop as the 2020 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat continue this week. After the deal expired, Sports Network Incorporated(later known ⦠While the coverage might make one believe that the NBA suffered a sharper ratings drop than any other league, the numbers tell a different story. 2020 nba playoffs Ultimate Highlight: Lakers surge to NBA title Relive all the action from the Lakers' dominant Game 6 victory that saw them crowned NBA champs. Date: September 2, 2020 Author: Nwo Report 0 Comments. Despite a minor downtick in viewership this season, the NFL still rules over its competition. It’s hard to compare any other league to the NFL in ratings. That compares to a 46%/54% respective mix for last yearâs NBA playoffs. This is no small thing. We don’t really have any good news to report on this front. Game 5 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers was the least viewed game of the entire series, drawing 2.92 million viewers. Compared to ABCâs first playoff game last year, Clippers-Warriors Game 1 on a Saturday night, ratings ⦠The 37 percent decline is in line with the broader trend ⦠Ratings for the first round of playoffs were down 27 percent from last season, according to reported Nielsen ratings⦠2019-20 NBA conference finals: Shockingly, this yearâs conference finals saw ratings ⦠That number was 39 percent lower than the 2.82 million average from last year. The numbers were similar early in August. According to Sports Media Watch, the two conference finals series around the Association saw television ratings decrease by 35% from a season ago. This could be something else to look at. The NFL game saw 20.5 million viewers tune in while the NBA Playoff game had 2.5 million viewers tune in. That, of course, was pre-pandemic. Similar to NFL, the lack of television stations led to NBC taking over the rights beginning the very next season until April 7, 1962 - NBC's first tenure with the NBA. After being sidelined for five-plus months, the 2019-20 NBA season resumed at Walt Disney World in Orlando in late July. Meanwhile, the opening “Thursday Night Football” game between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs drew 20.5 million viewers. ShowBuzz, for instance, noted that the league lost 28 percent in the important 18-49 age bracket. Ratings for the NBA has been bad since its initial debut. The League signed a contract with DuMont in its 8th season (1953â54), marking the first year the NBA had a national television broadcaster. Ratings for the NBA Finals are at an all-time low. Playing inside a bubble with interest seemingly high, the season resumed amid national anthem protests following the murder of George Floyd back in May. According to TV Line, Sundayâs NBA Final decider between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat â which the former won 106-93 to take the series 4-2 â drew in 5.5 million viewers, but last yearâs final game between the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors had an audience of 18.9 million, signifying a 71 percent decrease in viewership. Related: NBA cancels games to ⦠It’s not necessarily a surprise given that the NBA, headed by the leadership of Commissioner Adam Silver, has been more outspoken than other leagues as it relates to police brutality, racial injustice and other societal issues plaguing the United States. The NBA Playoffs began on Monday with four first-round games spanning from mid-morning to late night. Despite near-daily efforts to show America how woke they are, or, because of it, the NBA’s playoff ratings are still tanking. Game 7 of the 1988 NBA Finals registered the network's highest rated and most watched ⦠Fans are not attending games at Walt Disney World. But when the playoffs started, the ratings sank even lower. “Weekday afternoon games have certainly hurt, but the first weekend of the NBA Playoffs was no ratings bonanza either,” Sports Media Watch reported. Is it possible that a lack of interest has coincided with this? Other ratings reckoning also finds the NBA has lost viewers. With it has come sluggish television ratings for the NBA. The standings and stats of the current NBA season. NBA Team Stats 2020-21 Said game drew just 2.5 million viewers. While President Trump called for a boycott of NFL games due to widespread anthem protests in that sport, the impact has been largely mitigated. Power Rankings, Week 11: Bucks rise, Jazz stay at No. What we do know is that the 11 conference finals games played this season rank among the 14 least-watched since 2007. If these basement-dwelling ratings continue, it could have a major impact on the league’s ability to command top dollar in the future. And in the other playoff series, Canadian ratings were up 41% year over year from last yearâs first round, in part because of the 11 Canadian-born players among the 16 playoff ⦠However, one stands out above the rest. It is somewhat surprising that the Lakers could not draw larger ratings with LeBron James leading the charge as his team attempts to win its first title in a decade. The NBA ratings are increasing, at least for games in primetime, as the playoffs move along, as relayed by Sports Media Watch.. As pointed out last night, year-over-year, the first round of the playoffs was down an eye-popping 27%. The league has tried to blame the coronavirus and its effects; however, SportsBusiness Daily recently noted that ratings for last season were also bad, as the 2018-2019 season lost 12 percent in viewership. PoliticsSocial JusticeSportsAdam SilverBlack Lives MatterLeBron JamesNBAsocial justice. Saturdayâs Lakers-Blazers first round NBA playoff Game 3 averaged a 2.3 rating and 3.83 million viewers on ABC, marking the highest rated and most-watched game of the playoffs thus far. As Sports Illustrated noted, the NBA’s TV contracts expire in 2025, so it won’t be long before the networks begin looking to renegotiate their $24 billion deal. It’s much different than the Lakers, as an example, captivating the Southern California fan base while winning an NBA Finals game at the Staples Center. The TV ratings for the 2020 playoffs have been down from the start, and theyâve been worse since the playersâ brief boycott. Related: NBA defends LeBron James in spat with President Trump. It was just last month that the very same Lakers took on the Houston Rockets in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals. What might be the reasons for the decrease in ratings around the NBA? Even then, the ratings numbers listed above are stunning. The NBA has a ratings problem â it has for a while. The 2020 NBA Playoffs averaged 3.04 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, TNT and NBA TV (83 telecasts), down 37% from last year, when the postseason took place as scheduled in April, May and June (4.83M). NBA ratings are in fact down overall through the first round of the playoffs compared with last year, but itâs hardly an apples-to-apples comparison. Apr 17, 2021: San Antonio at Phoenix: May 15, 2021: Phoenix at San Antonio: May 16, 2021: Phoenix at San Antonio Despite near-daily efforts to show America how woke they are, or, because of it, the NBAâs playoff ratings are still tanking. Visit ESPN to view 2020-21 NBA team stats. Games broadcast on NBA TV were not included in the data. -Viewership down a huge 28% in 18-49 year olds. The WNBA also had its 2020 season during the NBAâs season restart and playoffs. The 2019 NBA Finals averaged 15.1 million viewers and a 8.76 rating, while Game 6 on Sunday delivered a 2.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic and preliminary figures indicate the ⦠Ratings increased 53% and viewership 54% from Bucks-Pistons Game 3 in the same Saturday night window last year, which aired on ESPN (1.5, 2.48M). The NBAâs two-year ratings tank just took tanking up another notch. This was taken to a whole new level during the early stages of the 2020 NBA Playoffs when teams boycotted games after a man by the name of Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer. Source: WARNER TODD HUSTON. -The Lakers game was the lowest watched opener in 5 years. Despite near-daily efforts to show America how woke they are, or, because of it, the NBAâs playoff ratings are still tanking. In fact, according to industry sources, NBA viewership post-shutdown is up 8% versus the prior year, when compared with spring 2019 end-of-season games. While Game 4âs ratings for Lakers-Heat showed an uptick from the prior three games, viewership on ⦠... playoffs is made up of 45% white viewers and 55% non-white viewers. That’s just bad news for Adam Silver and Co. There’s no other way to go about it. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. -Viewership on ABC is down 23% from last year. Keep track of how your favorite teams are performing and who will make the playoffs. NBA Finals Ratings History (1988-Present) - Sports Media Watch