NBA Finals on NBC Draw Their Highest-Ever Ratings

While most other sports and entertainment programming are experiencing declining ratings on TV, audience levels for NBC’s coverage of the NBA finals were the highest ever.

The Chicago Bulls’ six-game victory over the Phoenix Suns drew an average rating of 17.9, according to figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. A rating is the percentage of U.S. households tuning to a particular program. With each point representing 931,000 households, that means an average of nearly 16.7 million households were tuned in to each game.

The previous record was 15.9, set for CBS’ coverage of the 1987 series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. Last year’s series between Chicago and Portland averaged 14.2.

Chicago’s 99-98 series-clinching victory Sunday was the second highest-rated NBA game ever with a 20.3 rating, trailing only the 21.2 for Game 7 of the Lakers-Detroit Pistons final in 1988.

Phoenix’s 108-98 victory in Game 5 last Friday assured a profit on the series for NBC, according to NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol. Had the series ended in five games, the network would have broken even, while had it gone the four-game minimum, NBC would have lost money, he said.

“We have had a wonderful year,” Ebersol said. “We made money on the regular season and we made a very good profit on the playoffs that preceded the finals.”

The two-month playoff series proved to be a ratings bonanza for both national networks carrying it. NBC’s coverage of the playoffs before the finals averaged an 8.2 rating, a 13.9% increase over last year and 22.4% over 1991. Turner Network Television, the NBA’s exclusive national cable carrier, had a 3.5 rating in the 59 million households it reaches for its 36 playoff games, a 16.7% jump from last year.

Advertising and television executives cited the presence in the finals of the NBA’s two most prominent players, Chicago’s Michael Jordan and Phoenix’s Charles Barkley, and the nation’s familiarity with the Bulls as key factors for the high ratings.

But the NBA wasn’t only a hit this season during the playoffs. Its regular season ratings on NBC improved 2% to 4.9 and TNT’s were up 5.5% to 1.9. By comparison, CBS’ regular season baseball coverage fell to an all-time low of 3.4 last season. NBC’s NBA coverage also had the distinction of being the only major professional team sport on ABC, CBS or NBC whose regular season package is currently turning a profit.

To Ebersol, the differences between basketball and baseball’s rating trends stems from the NBA’s long-running labor peace, which focuses attention on on-field matters, and the way the public perceives the players in each sport.

“The public looks at the (NBA) players first and foremost as pro basketball players,” Ebersol said. “They don’t look at them as disgruntled employees and . . . spoiled.”

Jon Mandel, senior vice president with Grey Advertising, said basketball’s other advantages stem from better marketing and more action.

Jerry Dominus, senior vice president and director of national programming for the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, believes baseball would be better off by curtailing the number of regular season games that are telecast, a tactic the NBA has already taken.