NBA TV averaged 920,000 viewers for Tuesday night’s Heat-Pacers game, marking the best viewership yet for a telecast on the cable network, including NBA playoff games. The game, which aired as part of the net’s NBA Fan Night vote, peaked at over 1 million viewers during the 9:15-9:30pm ET window. Heat-Pacers topped the previous mark set by Lakers-Trail Blazers at the start of the '12-13 season (868,000 viewers). NBA TV also drew its second-best audience for the '13-14 regular season earlier in the week for the return of Lakers G Kobe Bryant. The Raptors-Lakers game on Sunday night drew 691,000 viewers. FS Indiana also aired Tuesday night’s Heat-Pacers game and drew its best regular-season rating for an NBA game. The net drew a 9.33 local rating in Indianapolis, passing the previous record of a 9.32 rating for Pacers-Lakers on Feb. 4, 2003. Sun Sports also drew a 9.6 local rating in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, marking the RSN's second-best Heat game this season to date (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor). In Indianapolis, Anthony Schoettle noted TV ratings for Pacers games on FS Indiana during the first month of the season "have skyrocketed." TV ratings for Pacers games on the net were up 113% in November "over the same period a year ago." That is the team's "highest opening month since 2005 and the increase is the largest in the NBA this season." The Pacers' local TV ratings overall "ranked fourth in the NBA, up from 13th at the end of last season." Pacers telecasts on FS Indiana in November averaged a 4.1 rating in the Indianapolis market, meaning an "average of almost 45,000 households are watching each game." Since the Pacers "figure to be hot in the hunt for the No. 1 spot for the Eastern Conference, their ratings are likely to increase during the second half of the season more than most of the other 29 NBA teams" (IBJ.com, 12/11).
SKY'S THE LIMIT: In Houston, David Barron noted Rockets games on CSN Houston this season "are averaging a 1.5 Nielsen rating, up 48 percent from this time last year." The network's pregame numbers "are up by 193 percent and postgame numbers are up 25 percent, and only a few unsold ad spots remain for game broadcasts through the end of the year." Meanwhile, TXU Energy has "renewed as title sponsor" of the 10:00pm CT “SportsNet Central” news show (CHRON.com, 12/11).
