The National Basketball Association's All-Star weekend was a hit for Turner Sports and the league's digital vehicles.
TNT said that more than 44.1 million people watched some part of its NBA All-Star weekend coverage, up 15% from 38.3 million in 2008. Moreover, an additional 7 million watched online and via mobile devices from Feb. 13-16.
TNT officials said the network set a ratings mark with its coverage of NBA All-Star Saturday Night on Sat., Feb. 14. The drama network dunked a 26% gain in total viewers to 6.55 million over the 2008 event, making the 2009 extravaganza the most-watched telecast in the event's 24-year history.
Moreover, the network's coverage of the 2009 NBA All-Star Game on Sun., Feb. 15 had 7.62 million total viewers, a 20% increase over the 2008 contest.
As such, TNT's NBA All-Star programming scored the top ranking in primetime for both Saturday and Sunday among ad-supported cable television.
The NBA All-Star Game and NBA All-Star Saturday Night also became the No. 1 and No. 2 telecasts, respectively, on ad-supported cable year-to-date for adults 18 to 34 and 18 to 49, plus men 18 to 34,18 to 49 and 25 to 54.
NBA.com experienced record traffic during the weekend bolstered by the new NBA All-Star Scene feature on the site. The section received 1.4 million video streams and included more than 400 videos featuring and/or uploaded by NBA players, celebrities and fans.
Moreover, TNT OverTime Access, a mosaic featuring live streaming angles of the Saturday and Sunday All-Star events, saw video streams leap 60%.
NBA Digital said it established a new record for video streams during All-Star, with more than 14 million, a 35% jump over last year's heretofore record.
Additionally, more than 1 million fans utilized mobile devices to access All-Star content.
"The success of NBA All-Star 2009 speaks to the strength of the NBA brand and Turner's ability as a company to engage consumers with unique content on a multitude of distribution platforms," said Turner Sports president David Levy in a statement. "By serving NBA branded content across multiple platforms, we are growing consumers' interaction between events on our air and unique features offered on our sites, strengthening the NBA on TNT brand and creating a fully integrated experience for our advertisers."
Noted NBA Digital general manager Bryan Perez: "The unprecedented success of NBA All-Star Scene shows how TV, the Internet and wireless can be coordinated into a highly engaging, multi-platform experience for fans and demonstrates the strength of the NBA Digital assets. By taking fans where they've never been able to go before, in almost real-time and then allowing them to share that experience, not only with other fans on NBA.com, but on mobile devices, social networks and blogs, we've been able to raise the bar for interactivity in sports digital media."
