PBA draws nearly 1 million viewers per game

OSAKA – Data from US media research group Nielsen show the Philippine Basketball Association remains the most popular sports program in the country, with almost a million viewers tuning in to each game on average.

Reviewing numbers from the past season in preparation for the next, PBA officials were pleased to see dominant numbers as presented by their broadcast partners TV5 and Cignal TV, and confirmed by Nielsen.

“Nakakatuwa at nakakataba ng puso,” said PBA commissioner Willie Marcial on the ratings presented during the first session of the PBA annual planning meeting at Swissotel Nankai here.

The members of the PBA board are in full attendance, led by chairman Ricky Vargas of TNT, vice chairman Bobby Rosales of Terrafirma and treasurer Raymond Zorrilla of Phoenix Fuel.

Erick Arejola from NorthPort, Archen Cayabyab from Converge, Alfrancis Chua from Barangay Ginebra, Ronald Dulatre from NLEX, Mamerto Mondragon from Rain or Shine, Robert Non from San Miguel Beer, William Pamintuan from Meralco, Rene Pardo from Magnolia and Silliman Sy from Blackwater were also here with deputy commissioner Eric Castro, head of finance Odessa Encarnacion, head of marketing Jo Francisco, legal counsel Atty. Ogie Narvasa and social media’s Michelle Flores.

TV5 president/CEO Guido Zaballero, CignalTV president/CEO Jane Basas and CignalTV first vice president for channels and content management Sienna Olaso made the presentation.

Per Nielsen numbers, Filipinos watch the PBA more than any other sports programs with the PBA drawing 975,520 average viewers per game over the first six months of 2024, compared to 313,040 for the PVL, 218,400 for the UAAP, 218,400 for the NBA and 145,600 for the MPBL.

And over the same period, 14 of the 20 top sports programs (drawing the biggest ratings) were PBA games.

Most viewed was Game 6 of the Meralco-San Miguel Philippine Cup title showdown that drew 2.16 million viewers followed by Game 3 of the same series with 2.06 million.

Other sports programs making the top 20 were matches in the recent AVC Challenge Cup featuring Alas Pilipinas. Third was Alas’ game versus Kazakhstan and fourth was the national volley belles’ tiff with their Chinese counterparts.

Overall, PBA’s average viewers were three times more than the PVL’s and five times more than the UAAP’s and the NBA’s.

Then there were the PBA’s mammoth hits on social media.

Chairman Vargas and the rest of the PBA board, however, are looking forward to improve their in-venue programs to give the fans better PBA watching experience.

“While it’s good to see these ratings, we want to bring the fans in the venue. We’re aiming to enhance fan experience at the start of the season,” said Vargas. (SB)