SBD: ABC sets its NBA audience record for second straight season

ABC averaged a 3.3 Nielsen rating and 5.4 million viewers for its 15 NBA games this season, marking the network’s best regular-season averages since ESPN/ABC acquired TV rights prior to the 2002-03 season. A 3.3 rating means that an average of 3.3 percent of homes with at least one television tuned in for NBA games on ABC.

The figures also mark the best NBA averages for any broadcast network since NBC during the 1998-99 season, which was also shortened by a labor dispute.

Compared to last season’s record-breaking figures, ABC is up 10 percent in rating and 6 percent in viewership. ABC is also up 43 percent and 47 percent, respectively, from the 2009-10 season.