Trail Blazers pleased with TV ratings bump

The Portland Trail Blazers’ move to the Rip City Television Network has paid off, as expected, with higher viewership.

The Blazers lead the NBA in increased viewership over last season at plus-68%, according to Nielsen ratings, reported by the Sports Business Journal.

That’s a stark shift from last season when the Blazers led the NBA with a 49% drop in viewership.

The reasons for the shift are clear. Before last season, the Blazers left Root Sports and formed their own network with Sinclair Broadcast Group to reach more viewers.

“That was the point for sure, to try and get fans more success to games,” said Kevin Kinghorn, the Blazers’ chief marketing officer.

The plan worked for obvious reasons. The Blazers saw their distribution dip to a 20% reach when Xfinity pushed Root Sports into a costlier tier package, turning off many fans. Also, the 2023-24 team experienced one of the four worst seasons in franchise history, going 21-61.

Moving to Sinclair gave the Blazers a 100% reach in the Portland area.

“That had long been a sore point for fans, so we wanted to address that for sure,” Kinghorn said.

A further rise in viewership is expected.

“We’re thrilled with where we are right now, but we expect to see continued growth,” Kinghorn said.

The rapid rollout just before the season left many fans confused as to where and how to find the Blazers broadcasts. The shift to Sinclair allowed fans to access games with a simple TV antenna. But getting that information to all potential viewers wasn’t instantaneous. Plus, the move to KUNP didn’t happen until January, after the games began airing on KATU Charge 2.2.

BlazerVision has more than 6,000 subscribers, according to the Blazers, and that number is also expected to rise.

“I think people will become more accustomed to where we are,” Kinghorn said.

The team playing a more exciting brand of basketball this season has also helped boost ratings. The Blazers began the season 13-28 before winning 10 of 11 games during a recent stretch that got them back into the postseason hunt. Broadcast ratings jumped 27% during that run.

“You see an exciting team on the court, fans get to know these players,” Kinghorn said. “And they are some really great human beings and basketball players. It’s an exciting time and that will also drive ratings.”