The NBA dominated the Christmas TV ratings Tuesday.
The Hollywood Reporter reported the following Wednesday morning:
The NBA dunked on its Christmas night competition, posting strong ratings for ABC in primetime.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ 127-101 victory over the Golden State Warriors delivered 6.39 million viewers and a 2.1 rating for ABC, pending updates for the live broadcast. That’s a 17 percent improvement from the preliminary 5.46 million and 1.8 Christmas night in 2017. (The 2017 game adjusted down to just under 5 million viewers in the final ratings.)
Getting over 6 million viewers for a regular season NBA game is nothing to sneeze at. Those are some huge numbers. Are they NFL numbers for primetime? No, but you’re living in a fantasy land if you expect pro basketball to ever compete in the same league as football when it comes to television ratings. (RELATED: LeBron James Suffers Injury To The Groin. Some Fans Might Start Panicking)
It’s simply not going to happen.
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NBC also showed Jim Carrey’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” but the ratings were lackluster at best. According to the same THR report, it got a rating of .9 on NBC. That means roughly one percent of houses with televisions tuned in.
All in all, the NBA absolutely crushed everybody else. It’s not surprising. People love sports. They’re with their families, they’re looking for something to watch and a LeBron James NBA game isn’t a bad option at all.
I’m sure Adam Silvers and the rest of the people running the league are more than pleased with the numbers. Now, I’ll really be impressed when they start having football games on Christmas every year. That’s the world I dream about living in.
