Nets local TV ratings still worst, but growing

In a season marked by small victories, here’s another one: YES ratings for Nets games remain the worst in the NBA, but they’re no longer dropping. In fact, mid-season to mid-season, the ratings up nine percent over last year, according so Sports Business Journal.

SBJ notes in its semi-annual look at league TV ratings...

Unsurprisingly, the league’s lowest TV ratings come in markets with the worst teams, so far this season.

With a 19-40 record, the Brooklyn Nets own the league’s lowest local TV rating. The team’s games on YES Network pulled a 0.42 average, which actually was up 9 percent from the same point last season.

In fact, of the lowest ratings across the NBA, the Nets jump is an outlier among bad teams. Of the bottom six ratings, (two teams are tied for fifth lowest ratings), only the Nets and the Nuggets gained viewers. The Nuggets gained 8 percent.

Also, having the lowest ratings doesn’t necessarily mean the smallest audience. A .42 rating in the New York, the country’s largest market by a wide margin, amounts to about 30,000 households per game. Both the Hawks and Magic are attracting fewer than 15,000. The Clippers audience in the country’s second biggest market, amounts to only a few thousand more households per game than the Nets.

Overall, SBJ reports the NBA “continues to buck the television ratings trend, with both national and local viewership showing impressive gains as the league headed into the All-Star break.”

• NBA beats odds, sees gain in local ratings - John Lombardo & John Ourand - Sports Business Journal