After a number of years of regular-season audience declines on cable TV, NBA game viewership saw upticks across all media partners during the ’15-16 campaign. The NBA during the ’15-16 regular season averaged 1.9 million viewers for game telecasts across ABC, TNT and ESPN, up 8% from last season and the best year-over-year increase since ’10-11. Each of those TV partners saw a gain in regular-season viewership, and NBA TV also had its best season on record. The gains for TNT and ESPN come after a slow start to the season. Heading into Christmas, TNT’s game viewership was down 8%, while ESPN's was down 6%. TNT wrapped up the season averaging 1.68 million viewers, up 1% from 1.67 million viewers last season. TNT also did not have the benefit of Christmas Day games this season. Removing Christmas numbers from last season, and TNT’s viewership gain jumps to 5%. The net also added only one Warriors game during the team’s record season. The 1.68 million viewers for TNT was the still below the net’s averages from ’08-09 through ’13-14.
DISNEY'S WORLD: ESPN averaged 1.65 million viewers for 76 games during the ’15-16 season, up 10% from 1.5 million viewers last season. The net added four Warriors games during the course of the season, and its average does not include the farewell game for Lakers G Kobe Bryant, which marked the most-viewed NBA regular-season game ever on ESPN2. Similar to TNT, ESPN's average this season was still below figures seen from the ’09-10 season through the ’13-14 season. ABC, which introduced its new “NBA Saturday Primetime” package this season, averaged 3.93 million viewers, marking the net’s best figure since ’12-13. ABC’s numbers, which benefited from five Warriors games this season, were up 5% from last season. The net’s “NBA Countdown” pregame show also averaged 1.56 million viewers up 26% from last season. On the digital front, WatchESPN was up for '15-16. There were 527 million total minutes of NBA games streamed on the platform, up 12% from the previous three seasons combined. The platform also saw an average of 140,000 unique visitors per game game, up 75% from last season.
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VIEWERSHIP TREND FOR NBA REGULAR-SEASON GAMES
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SEASON
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ABC (000)
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TNT (000)
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ESPN (000)
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NBA TV (000)
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'15-16
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3,926
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1,682
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1,652
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345
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'14-15
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3,588
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1,669
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1,504
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291
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'13-14
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3,584
|
1,900
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1,678
|
316
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'12-13
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4,701
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2,002
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1,768
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336
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'11-12 (lockout season)
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5,421
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2,498
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1,863
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337
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'10-11
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5,110
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2,397
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1,988
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253
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'09-10
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3,694
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1,723
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1,561
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n/a
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'08-09
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3,684
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1,711
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1,680
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n/a
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'07-08
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3,175
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1,473
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1,468
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n/a
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