The Hawks’ local television ratings are up sharply this season, but still rank low among NBA teams.
Ratings have increased 49% in the Atlanta TV market for Hawks telecasts on Fox Sports Southeast, compared to the same point last season -- the third largest percentage increase in the NBA, according to a Sports Business Journal analysis of Nielsen data.
Nevertheless, the Hawks’ average rating of 0.89 in their home market is the seventh lowest among the 27 teams included in the study.
The Hawks' rating means 0.89 of every 100 TV households in the Atlanta market, or slightly more than 20,000 homes, watch the team's telecasts on average. That's up from a 0.60 rating at the same point last season.
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Although the Hawks have the NBA's third-worst record at the All-Star break (15-41), their increased TV ratings buck a trend: Local ratings this season are collectively down 13% league-wide on regional sports networks (through games of Feb. 11), and national telecasts on ABC, ESPN and TNT are down 12%, according to the Sports Business Journal report.
The San Antonio Spurs have the league’s highest local rating at 3.51 despite a 20% drop from this point last season.
The six teams with lower average ratings in their home markets than the Hawks are the Denver Nuggets (a league-low 0.36 as several distributors in Denver have dropped the regional sports network that carries the games), Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, Orlando Magic and New York Knicks. But the only teams with larger percentage ratings increases than the Hawks are the Los Angeles Clippers (up 86% to 0.97) and the Magic (up 82% to 0.81).
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Three teams – Memphis, Toronto and Utah – weren’t included in the analysis because their ratings data wasn’t available.
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