Richard Deitsch of The Athletic used his Friday column to ask two sports media watchers what they made of recent television ratings for the NFL Draft and the Kentucky Derby. Deitsch is of the opinion that they may signal a turnaround for sports on TV. He asked Sports Media Watch’s Jon Lewis and Sports Business Daily’s Austin Karp to get specific.
Lewis is bullish on the NBA. He says so much of last year’s decline in viewership for the Finals and the playoffs can be attributed to what Covid-19 did to the league’s schedule. With things closer to normal for 2021, he expects a major bounce back.
“It would be absolutely shocking if the ratings of the NBA Finals were not up double digits,” he said.
Timing is the key in Jon Lewis’s mind. He notes that the first round is supposed to tip off on Memorial Day. That is virtually in lock-step with the more normal start that we saw in 2019, when the playoffs started the day after the holiday. He also noted the elephant in the room: given the choice between the NBA Playoffs and any NFL football, America tends to choose the NFL.
“Last year if they had had the Finals out of the way by maybe Week 1 of the NFL season, I think they would have gotten some better numbers,” Lewis said of last year’s disappointing ratings for the NBA Playoffs. “Nothing dramatically better, but still better than what they got. So time of year matters.
Karp added that there is another key advantage the NBA would have in achieving a ratings rebound. The New York Knicks are not just relevant. They are actually good.
“If they can make a run here and make it to maybe the Eastern Conference semifinals or finals, you’re going to see a huge number coming out of the New York market,” he said. “That’s really going to help boost some of those numbers.”
