Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Finally, Revenge on Hollywood for "Juwanna Mann"

Did anyone else find it weird that ESPN featured two NBA games on Sunday night (Knicks vs. Heat and Blazers vs. Hawks), starting at 8:00 PM EST? ESPN is not normally in the habit of showing Sunday night games, and ESPN's corporate affiliate, ABC, was broadcasting the Academy Awards starting at 8:00. Why cannibalize your sister network's ratings?

To be fair, the overlap of fandom for NBA action and Hollywood glamour is probably not extensive, and basketball fans would be angered if the Knicks-Heat game, featuring four of the top five scorers in the league, were not nationally televised. Still, the decision was risky from the perspective of Disney's overall content strategy. And today came news that the TV audience for the Oscar show was down 10% from 2010's viewership (though, to be fair, still greater than 2008 and 2009 numbers). Ratings information for Sunday night's Knicks-Heat battle is not yet available, though I will post it once I can find it. ... UPDATE: The Knicks-Heat game drew 4.2 million viewers, the most popular show on cable television that night. Had those 4 million viewers been added to the 37 million Oscar viewers, the 2011 Oscars would have bested the roughly 41 million viewers of the 2010 Academy Awards.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This blog is run by a bunch of elitist pigs who know nothing about the NBA.

I hope they either stop blogging or someone shuts this blog down. - BB

Bhel Atlantic said...

BB: Well, I have been following the NBA since 1988. That doesn't make me an expert, but I'd like to think I know more than "nothing". :> Sorry you don't like our blog!