re: Game 1 NBA Finals loses half the audience of 2019 number

Not much since they haven't been counted in the ratings, if anything it makes it look worse against last year's numbers when people were watching in bars.


ESPN has been complaining about away from home viewing (bars, prisons, hospitals, terminals) for 20 years.
In 2017 Nielsen started giving clients the away from home #s so they can sell the number to advertisers.

quote:

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He said millions of people watch live television out of their home each day. “And for ESPN, that’s been big,” Bulgrin said. “If you’ve been in a commercial establishment, chances are ESPN has been on.”

But up till now, just how big that out-of-home audience is has been tough to say.

“With this new service, we’re now adding this audience into our traditional ratings to give our clients a combined number,” said Nielsen’s Sara Erichson. The new count uses what’s called a “portable people meter.” It’s a cell phone-sized device that records what the people who carry it are exposed to. It uses audio codes, embedded into all television programming, that viewers can’t hear but the people meter can pick up.

Erichson said the new out-of-home numbers are showing significant bumps in total audience for some channels. Sports programming is recording about a 9 percent increase in viewership. That’s a boost ESPN needs in the world of cord-cutters and cord-nevers.

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