Bigtime rookies like Sixer Jahlil Okafor (above) and D’Angelo Russell generated lots of interest.
By Sarah Berkowitz
For those of you who scoff at the NBA Summer League and did anything like cleaning out your garage to avoid it:
Check out these TV ratings numbers!
NBA TV’s comprehensive coverage of NBA Summer League — 68 game telecasts and the network’s most extensive content offerings to date — delivered record-setting numbers including the network’s most-viewed live Summer League coverage ever. NBA TV averaged 110,000 total viewers for its live game coverage (July 4-20) for a 9% increase over last year.
The network also garnered its most-viewed NBA Summer League game telecast of all time (Minnesota vs. Los Angeles Lakers, featuring rookies Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell in action, with an average of 277,000 total viewers) and its most-viewed Samsung NBA Summer League championship game ever (Phoenix vs. San Antonio; 140,000 total viewers).
NBA TV highlights also include:
• The network’s primetime audience growing 8% among total viewers when compared to the same time period in 2014;
• Total day viewership up 7% among total viewers over last year;
• Significant growth across all core demos for live NBA Summer League game telecasts with a 29% increase in Men 18-34;
• A median age of 32.6 for all NBA Summer League games, down from 36.7 last year.
Additionally, @NBATV Facebook and Twitter accounts generated more than 252 million impressions throughout NBA Summer League, with Facebook impressions growing 138% over last year. There were also 6.6 million video views over the 16-day period, with Facebook garnering nearly six times the total when compared with 2014.
