The NBA has obviously never played regular or postseason games in July, August and September, so judging the ratings the league has gotten has been tricky and divisive, though we’re going to #sticktosports in this particular piece.
Outside the United States, league data shows that compared to the 2019-2020 regular season, ratings and interest in the eight seeding games and the first round of the playoffs inside the Orlando bubble have been popular, with games broadcast in 215 different countries and territories in 47 different languages.
Compared to the average regular season ratings, the viewing audience for the first two weeks of seeding games was up 325% in the Philippines, 130% in Spain, 88% in Mexico, 79% in Lithuania and 29% in Italy, per NBA data. Those numbers were aided by a record number of games airing in primetime internationally. Of the 88 seeding games, 41 games aired in primetime in Latin America and 40 aired in primetime in Europe, the Middle East and Africa on League Pass and various broadcast partners, by far the most ever in a two-week span.
“There has never been a better time to be an international NBA fan,” said Matt Brabants, the NBA’s senior vice president of global media distribution. “Between primetime games in key markets around the world, the impact that international players are having on the court, and new broadcast innovations introduced as part of the season restart, there are more ways for international fans to experience the excitement of the NBA than ever before.”
In Canada, ratings for the defending champion Toronto Raptors’ first round sweep of the Brooklyn Nets were up 24% across TSN and Rogers Sportsnet from last season’s first round win over the Orlando Magic. And in the other playoff series, Canadian ratings were up 41% year over year from last year’s first round, in part because of the 11 Canadian-born players among the 16 playoff teams, the most outside the U.S.
Ratings during the seeding games were up 62% year over year on ESPN Mexico, though that total does not include Christmas Day, the All-Star game or the Mexico City games, per the NBA. Ratings on Nu9ve were up 65% and viewership nearly doubled on TUDN in games played through Aug. 9.
Ratings around the world were also helped by Luka Doncic’s transcendent run for the Dallas Mavericks. For his first two seeding games, ratings in Spain— where Luka played for Real Madrid before coming to the NBA— were up 172% over the regular season average. And when Doncic hit the game-winner in overtime at the buzzer in Game 4 of Dallas first round matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers to complete a 43-point triple-double, the video highlight generated more than 1.8 million views on NBA Spain’s Twitter account.
Highlights of that buzzer beater trended in 15 countries outside the U.S besides Spain: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, France, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Turkey and Venezuela. For the Game 6 finale between Dallas and Los Angeles, ratings on Spain’s VAMOS network was the most viewed game in the country since January 2013.
With international All-Stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Pascal Siakam still in the playoffs, expect ratings for postseason games outside the U.S. to continue to be robust and far less controversial than the NBA ratings here in America.