drive this year’s viewership.
In the last decade, when the Lakers played in the championship series, the finals averaged an 11.4 rating, a healthy increase from the average 7.0 rating generated by the Spurs’ last three appearances.
With the ideal matchup of the “Kobe Bryant-led LA Lakers against the Pierce-Garnett-Allen-led Boston Celtics, I’ll guess that the finals will average 13 million viewers,†said Nielsen’s Bill Gorman last month in anticipation of the NBA Finals lineup.
As for the future, “The league is on an upswing, and there are [other] players out there that haven’t even hit their prime but already have great star power,†White adds. “Our new contract will allow us to capitalize on the trend. It is all encompassing and includes digital media, phone, broadband, widgets, etc. We are able to carry content to any platform, taking us beyond the typical linear TV deal.â€
The NBA Finals are pretty much Tivo-proof and will allow the network to introduce millions of expected viewers to new company-owned technology platforms. ABC will use the games to promote other programming while enhancing the overall brand, and its ownership of broadcast rights denies competing networks from having access to the property.
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