The Breitbart News reported on May 19 that the NBA continues to suffer a ratings disaster, with ratings down 45 percent on ABC, 40 percent on TNT and 20 percent on ESPN since the 2011-12 season.
The NBA league has lost nearly half of its viewers since 2011. Compared to 2019, TNT’s NBA 2021 is down 19 percent in viewership, from 1.5 million to 1.2 million. ESPN is down 26 percent, from 1.6 million to under 1.2 million.
ABC, the NBA’s only partner, saw a 25 percent drop in ratings between 2019 and 2021, from 3.6 million to 2.7 million, an all-time low. Since 2011-12, ABC’s NBA broadcast ratings have fallen by more than 45 percent, and nearly half of its viewers have left.
Fewer people are watching cable TV, but the NBA has suffered a decline that is much worse than most other TV shows, and even worse than many other sports. While others have lost fans, the NBA has fallen off a cliff. As Breitbart Sports pointed out in April, the NBA can’t even earn the number of viewers who tune in to regular network programming.
Historically, sports programming has earned more than any regular TV series, but last season’s NBA games averaged only 2.83 million viewers. While crime drama The Blacklist averaged about 3.3 million viewers for its most recent episodes, one of ABC’s biggest shows, medical drama The Good Doctor, also averaged more than 4 million viewers each week.
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