The Nets may have doubled their win total this season, but their TV ratings remained the same: the worst in the NBA. The Nets pulled a 0.29 rating for games on YES, or roughly one-third of one percent of New York area households. That works out to 22,000 viewers per game. The Knicks had a 1.83 rating on MSG, nearly six times higher.
In terms of actual audience, that number is a bit higher than four NBA teams, but because the Nets play in the country's largest market, their rating was lower. The Spurs had the NBA's highest rating, 10.19 or 30 times as high as the Nets. The Clippers had the biggest increase, up 130%.
The team and YES are locked in an arbitration over how much the team should be paid in rights fees. YES would prefer the team's ratings history be a big factor while the Nets, looking forward, want the number to reflect the team's move to Brooklyn and greater exposure in the metropolitan area.
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Spurs reign over NBA in local TV ratings - John Ourand & David Broughton - Sports Business Journal