The ’15 NBA All-Star Game drew a combined 7.2 million viewers on TNT and TBS (simulcast), marking the game’s lowest audience since ’12, when it had head-to-head competition with the Oscars. The game also drew a 4.3 rating, flat compared to ’14. Sunday night’s game had stiff competition from SNL’s 40th anniversary special on NBC, despite figures showing that the NBC broadcast peaked at around 8:30pm ET as the ASG was starting. The NBA ASG also had competition from an original episode of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” in the 9:00pm hour. Peak viewership for the NBA ASG was from 10:45-11:00pm. ASG viewership this year ended up being down around 4% from 7.5 million viewers last year, when the game aired solely on TNT and had primetime competition from the Sochi Olympics. The last time the game did not have strong broadcast TV competition was in ’13, when TNT drew 8.0 million viewers. Meanwhile, TNT drew 6.1 million viewers for NBA All-Star Saturday night this year, marking the event’s best figure since ’12, when it drew 6.2 million viewers. The audience this year was up from 5.7 million viewers in ’14, when TNT had competition from Sochi. The high mark for NBA All-Star Saturday over the last decade remains the ’11 event, which drew 8.1 million viewers. Collectively, Turner drew reached 27.5 million viewers for its All-Star weekend telecasts (including Friday night’s Rising Stars event), up slightly from 27.1 million viewers in ’14. Facebook and Twitter content around the ASG and All-Star Saturday Night across the NBA on TNT and NBA TV accounts reached a gross audience of more than 150 million fans and followers and generated more than 25 million video views.
