NBC counts its NBA Playoff Ratings Differently than ESPN
The Hidden Math and Controversy Behind NBA Playoff Ratings
The NBA Playoffs have hit a stride. The second round matchups look good, after first rounds yielded long series. I’m assuming there will be some big viewership numbers announced by broadcasters this week.
Curiously, there were a dearth of announcements last week. Or I should say, more specifically, that such announcements were dominated by NBCUniversal. I wrote about how NBC announced the biggest NBA Game 1 viewing number at 5.7 million for Spurs/Blazers, followed by ABC/ESPN announcing that they actually had the most watched NBA Game 1 at 5.2 million for Rockets/Blazers.
Since that point, on April 22nd, I can’t find any NBA viewership announcements on the ESPN PR X feed. There were three announcements of NHL Playoff viewership since that point, but none for NBA.
I don’t assume that’s because the NBA numbers are bad. Remember, we’re in a sports viewership boom ever since Nielsen started incorporating Big Data + Panel methodology. If I had to guess, and it is a guess, I believe the silence is related to something weirder, and more inside-industry.
As I’ve written, the other sports broadcasters hate NBCUniversal due to a perception that the broadcaster plays fast and loose with the Nielsen ratings rules. I’ve got some data from these NBA Playoffs that illustrates why competitors are understandably annoyed.