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A Little Perspective on NBA Playoff Ratings

Those big first-round viewership numbers come with big asterisk.
Jimmy Traina|
LeBron James and the Lakers have generated strong ratings for their first-round playoff games against the Rockets.
LeBron James and the Lakers have generated strong ratings for their first-round playoff games against the Rockets. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

1. The first round of the NBA playoffs averaged 3.84 million viewers through Sunday. That is a 20% increase from last year and the highest average for the first round since 1993.

I’m an NBA fan and have no ax to grind with the NBA. However, that 3.84 million number needs a MASSIVE asterisk.

First and foremost, as I’ve told you many times in this column, Nielsen changed the way it measures viewers last September and pretty much every sport and every sporting event outside of the NFL draft has seen healthy increases in ratings.

O.K., fine. The NBA should not apologize for getting the same bump that every sport has gotten.

However, here are the two biggest differences regarding the first round of the playoffs from last season to this season.

For the first time ever this season, the first-round games are exclusive to national partners. The games did not air locally, as they always have in the past. Whether it was Knicks fans, Celtics fans, Sixers fans, Lakers fans, Nuggets fans and on and on and on, they were all brought into the national fold since their games did not air in their home market.

This alone should’ve given the NBA a nice viewership bump for the first round.

Secondly, first-round playoff games last season aired on ABC, ESPN and TNT. This year’s games have aired on NBC, ABC, ESPN, Prime Video and Peacock.

Even in this era of cord cutting and young folks only knowing the streaming world, broadcast still rules. Having a ton of first-round games on NBC instead of TNT is a huge difference when it comes to viewership.

According to Sports Media Watch, there are been 14 first-round games on broadcast (NBC or ABC). That is the most (outside of the Finals) in any postseason since 2002.

This is not to take any shots at the NBA. The viewership numbers are what they are. The league has every right to brag about increases and it deserves credit for partnering up with NBC and getting more games on broadcast.

But a little context is needed with the numbers.

2. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with Good Morning Football’s Kyle Brandt.

Brandt talks about working again with Peter Schrager at the NFL draft, what it’s been like since ESPN took over NFL Network, and fooling people into thinking he had an on-site fight with WWE superstar Seth Rollins.

In addition, Brandt talks about why he’s in favor of studio shows being on-site, whether he’d like to branch out into covering other sports, why it was so cool to work with Mel Kiper Jr., recently putting on a concert with his childhood friends, his favorite Curb Your Enthusiasm moments and much more.

Following Brandt, Sal Licata from SNY TV and The Sal Licata Show joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include Netflix’s Hulk Hogan documentary, Dianna Russini’s alleged playlist for Mike Vrabel, a shady practice by the Mets regarding tickets, a bagel store disaster, a Costco disaster and more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

3. I find it comical that Deion Sanders famously has all these ridiculous rules for his Colorado players, such as no hoodies allowed, and yet his son, Shilo, has no problem publicly hurling a misogynistic insult at a female reporter for the Browns.

4. The playoffs are always better when the stars are in action and not sidelined by injury. So it’s been good to see Joel Embiid back and doing stuff like this.

5. After the Knicks demolished the Hawks on Thursday night, New York star Jalen Brunson revealed that before every game he acknowledges the Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns.

6. This is a really, really good tweet that made me laugh. (I know it’s not a “tweet” anymore, but I still say tweet.)

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: The Devil Wears Prada 2 comes out today so this is a good time to post the best Devil Wears Prada related piece of content that’s out there.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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