Why ABC's NBA Finals Face Uphill Battle in TV Ratings - Despite LeBron James and the Lakers

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Why ABC’s NBA Finals Face Uphill Battle in TV Ratings – Despite LeBron James and the Lakers

by Tim Baysinger | September 30, 2020 @ 10:00 AM

Lakers-Heat will face off against the MLB playoffs and NFL, but ABC will take what it can get

After a one-year absence, LeBron James is back in the NBA Finals, leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a return to the NBA’s title round for the first time in a decade. Yet despite a match-up pitting James against his former team, the Miami Heat, ABC will face its stiffest competition for viewers in its 18 years of airing the finals.

We’ll take that one further: We’ll bet this is the toughest competition the NBA Finals have ever faced in the league’s 74 years of existence.

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For starters, the NBA Finals will tip off on Sept. 30, nearly four months later than its normal June timeslot. That’s usually when the league is gearing up for the start of the coming season — for example, the Houston Rockets hosted the Shanghai Sharks on Sept. 30, 2019 in the first exhibition game of the 2019-20 season.

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But while the NBA and the recently completed NHL season are ending months later than usual — thanks to a four-month shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic — other top leagues like Major League Baseball and the NFL are, for the most part, on schedule. That means the NBA Finals will have to contend with the beginning of the expanded MLB playoffs as well as both the 2020 NFL and college football seasons, which likely will fragment the audience far more than usual.

Wednesday’s Game 1 will tip off on a day that has eight MLB playoff games, including separate primetime contests featuring the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. The NBA is also scheduled to compete against NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” at least once — twice if the series goes to a Game 6.

Two other challenges are a seemingly unrelenting news cycle regarding the 2020 election — Game 1 tips off one day after the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden — and the still very-much-ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Finals schedule also includes two games slated for Friday nights (a normal year will typically have one Friday night game), a very TV-unfriendly night.

The NBA is coming off a postseason that not only aired outside its normal window in August and September (compared to April and May) but also, for many games in the first two rounds, outside of primetime. Overall, the Conference Finals on TNT and ESPN/ABC averaged 4.2 million viewers, off 35% from 2019 viewership. The playoffs overall averaged 2.6 million viewers, down 32% when looking at last year’s playoffs. But again, 2020 was anything but normal. For example, some playoff games began at 10:30 a.m. on the West Coast, so comparisons between years are more like apples-to-Fiona Apple.

Even so, NBA games still led in total viewers on 26 of the 35 nights during the playoffs, and 30 of those nights among men aged 18-49, one of the league’s core demos. Viewership on digital platforms was also up double digits.

Despite the lower-than-expected ratings, the NBA Finals still figure to boost ABC, which like most broadcasters has suffered a lack of new scripted programming. Most networks are resorting to a mix of reality and acquired programming while they wait for their regular primetime series to be able to shoot their upcoming seasons; most shows have only been back at work for a few weeks at most. ABC was the only network that was able to stave off “Premiere Week” wreckage last week, but that’s only because it simulcast last Monday’s NFL game on ESPN.

Also Read: Coronavirus Has Dismantled This Year's Premiere Week Ratings - Who's Taken the Biggest Hit?

ABC could come close to matching last year’s NBA Finals, when the Toronto Raptors denied an injury-ravaged Golden State Warriors a chance at a three-peat title. The six-game series averaged 15.14 million viewers, its worst performance since 2009 (though that had as much to do with Toronto existing outside of a Nielsen designated market area, and thus, out of ABC’s reach).

Before last season, however, ABC had a strong run courtesy of James making eight consecutive trips, including four that pitted him and his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, against the Warriors.

The first three match-ups rank as the three highest-rated and most-watched NBA Finals of the last decade, with two of them — in 2016 and 2017 — surpassing 20 million viewers, which hadn’t happened since Michael Jordan’s heyday. But that rivalry ran out of steam — mostly because the Warriors made it one-sided. The Warriors polished off their second straight title in 2018 with an easy four-game sweep, and viewership dipped accordingly to 17.7 million.

The lowest-rated NBA Finals came in 2007, when a very-young James and the Cavaliers were dominated by the San Antonio Spurs in a four-game sweep. That one-sided matchup drew 9.3 million viewers. It would be a surprise if the 2020 edition fell below that — the Lakers are among the league’s most popular teams.

But even if the NBA Finals are ratings challenged this year, just making it to the finish line in 2020 should be considered a win.

ESPN Stars That Jumped to Fox Sports, From Erin Andrews to Tom Rinaldi (Photos)

ESPN may be synonymous with sports, but plenty of stars have added Fox Sports to their resume. Have a look at some the big names.
Skip Bayless
The outspoken sports columnist and "First Take" analyst still ranks as ESPN's highest-profile defection when he bailed in 2016. He co-hosts "Skip and Shannon" with Shannon Sharpe on Fox Sports 1.
Fox Sports
Chris Broussard
The longtime NBA analyst joined Fox Sports in 2016. He's a regular panelist on "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed" and co-hosts "The Odd Couple" with Rob Parker for Fox Sports radio.
ESPN
Colin Cowherd
The sports anchor fled ESPN in 2015 and now hosts "The Herd" on FS1. He also co-hosted "Speak for Yourself" alongside Jason Whitlock for a short period.
ESPN
Chris Spielman
A former NFL All-Pro, Spielman worked at ESPN for years but now has a gig as a game analyst for Fox NFL.
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Shannon Spake
An experienced sidelines reporter, Spake hustled for ESPN for 10 years but switched to Fox in 2016 where she covers NASCAR, college football and basketball.
Rob Parker
The former member of ESPN's "First Take" followed Bayless to his new show, "Undisputed," where he appears as a regular panelist, along with co-hosting "The Odd Couple" with Broussard.
Emmanuel Acho
After serving as a college football analyst for ESPN's Longhorn Network and ESPN2 for a couple of years, Acho joined FS1 in 2020 to co-host "Speak for Yourself."
Adam Amin
Amin, who moonlights as the Chicago Bulls' play-by-play announcer, left ESPN for Fox Sports in May 2020. Amin will call NFL games with fellow former ESPN-er Mark Schlereth this season.
Erin Andrews
Andrews has been with Fox Sports since 2012, following eight years with ESPN. She often gets the most high-profile sideline reporting gigs, including the Super Bowl and World Series.
Lindsay Czarniak
Czarniak left ESPN in 2017 and resurfaced at Fox two years later, where she hosts studio coverage for NASCAR and does sideline reporting duty for NFL games as part of the Amin-Schlereth broadcast team.
JP Dellacamera
Dellacamera followed soccer when World Cup rights moved from ESPN to Fox starting in 2018.
Mike Hill
Hill left ESPN for Fox in 2013 during the early days of FS1, where he guest-hosted "Fox Sports Live" and "Fox Football Daily." He currently hosts "The Mike and Donny Show" for Fox Soul.
Alexi Lalas
As with Dellacamera, Lalas followed the World Cup from ESPN to Fox.
Rob Stone
Another soccer defector, Stone also hosts college football and Professional Bowlers' Association coverage.
Charissa Thompson
Thompson was among FS1's debut hosts in 2013 with the short-lived "Fox Sports Live." She currently hosts' Fox pre pre-game NFL show "Fox NFL Kickoff."
Sara Walsh
Walsh left ESPN in 2017 and joined Fox a year later, where she serves as an NFL reporter and a studio host for NASCAR coverage.
Kevin Wildes
A longtime producer for ESPN, Wildes stepped in front of the camera when he moved to Fox in early 2020. He appears on FS1's morning show, "First Things First."
Marcellus Wiley
Wiley joined “Speak for Yourself” in September 2018 following years as part of ESPN's NFL coverage.
Joe Davis
Known as "the guy who had to replace Vin Scully" calling Los Angeles Dodgers games, Davis had a brief two-year run with ESPN and now does play-by-play work for MLB and NFL games on Fox.
Mark Schlereth
Schlereth was a mainstay on ESPN's "NFL Live" but will now get to show his broadcasting chops on Fox this season.
Brock Huard
Huard had a variety of TV and radio gigs with ESPN, and joined Fox's College Football team in 2019.
Jonathan Vilma
The former New Orleans Saints linebacker joined Fox in June 2020 to work on its NFL games after a few years as part of ESPN's college football crew.
Cris Carter
Carter first joined Fox Sports in 2016 and had hosted "First Things First," alongside Nick Wright since 2017, but it was a short tenure. He left Fox Sports in late 2019, reportedly after he had an outburst with higher-ups over not being part of the network's "Thursday Night Football" coverage.
CBS Sports
Jamie Horowitz
Initially a splashy hire that might have been responsible for many of these talent defections, his Fox tenure came to an unglamorous end when he was fired in 2017 over claims of sexual harassment. He has since landed at DAZN, which is led by former ESPN boss John Skipper.
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Jason Whitlock
Speaking of Whitlock, the ex-ESPN sportswriter's tenure with FS1 came to end in 2020 when the two couldn't agree on a new contract. He has since resurfaced at Clay Travis' Outkick The Coverage.
YouTube
Tom Rinaldi
Tom Rinaldi, who has won 16 Sports Emmy Awards and seven Edward R. Murrow Awards, has covered every major sporting event in his impressive career. Rinaldi is perhaps best known as the storyteller and interviewer at golf major The Masters.
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