2008-09 NBA Season: Where Ratings Happen for ESPN, ABC

ESPN experienced across-the-board growth for its multiplatform coverage of the 2008-09 NBA regular season.

The season was the most-viewed on ABC in its six years of NBA coverage, with an average of 2.688 million households, up 10% from 2.451 million for the 2007-08 season.

ABC’s 2.3 average rating was up 5% from the 2.2 it earned for the prior season.

The broadcast network posted gains of 12% for men 18-49, 11% for men 18-34, 11% for men 25-54, 17% for viewers 18-34, 17% for viewers 18-49, and 15% for viewers 25-54.

As for ESPN, it average 1.68 million viewers for its 71 regular-season telecasts, marking its most-viewed NBA season ever and a gain of 14% from the 2007-08 figure of 1.468 million viewers for 70 games. Its 1.3 rating tied the previous season.

In terms of demographic gains, ESPN rose 9% for men 25-54, 8% for men 18-49, 7% for men 18-34, 14% for viewers 25-54, 13% for viewers 18-49, and 11% for viewers 18-34.

ESPN.com saw its NBA-related video total 1.3 billion page views, more than 279 million visits, and more than 113 million views.

The cable network’s mobile Website posted more than 737 million total page views and more than 108 million total visits.

And total hours of NBA games viewed via ESPN360.com rose 64% compared with the league’s 2007-08 season.