TELEVISION viewership of the games of the Philippine Basketball Association is at its highest in eight years, following the conclusion of the epic seven-game Commissioner’s Cup title series between the B-Meg Llamados and the Talk ’N Text Tropang Texters.
Figures provided to the PBA Commissioner’s Office by broadcast partner AKTV showed that the recent Commissioner’s Cup was the highest-rated conference in terms of audience share (based on actual TV sets in use during the survey period) and AMR (average per minute rating) since 2004.
The Commissioner’s Cup showed a 10.3 share and an AMR of 2.8. This beats the 9.3 audience share during the 2005 Philippine Cup and the 2.6 AMR last reached during the 2008 Fiesta Cup.
In fact, at one point during the overtime period of Game 7, there were more than four million viewers tuned in to AKTV, for an AMR of 9.7 and a 27.4% audience share, beating the big three of GMA-7 (24%), ABS-CBN (19%) and AKTV parent network ABC-5 (17%) in Megamanila.
“I feel the fans appreciate the direction of our officiating philosophy and the three-conference format, which shortens each tournament and makes each game seem like a playoff game even during the elimination round,” said PBA Commissioner Atty. Chito Salud.
These latest numbers show that the PBA is definitely back on track to assuming its mantle as the clear and undisputed leader in local sports programming and marketing. /pba media bureau