THE PBA is still the undisputed top sports league in the country.
Buoyed by the success of its 49th season, the pro league continued to post significant figures in terms of audience viewership heading into its milestone golden anniversary.
In a report presented before the board of governors during the annual planning session at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, television coveror TV 5 and Cignal TV revealed an increase in viewership as the three-conference format returned from the previous two-meet calendar.
The mid-season Commissioner’s Cup had the biggest audience share for the season with a total of 23.7 million over RPTV, TV 5, and PBA Rush.
TNT hurdled Ginebra via a riveting Game 7 overtime victory to rule the second conference and moved on the verge of a possible grand slam.
The numbers broke the 22.7 million cumulative audience share earned during the season-opening Governors’ Cup, where the Tropang 5G also got the better of the Kings in six matches.
“The PBA remains to be the No. 1 brand compared to other sports,” chairman Ricky Vargas said.
“We saw a huge increase in viewership in Season 49 and this has a lot to do with us establishing the PBA’s new home, which is RPTV,” TV5 President Guido Zaballero added.
The season-ending Philippine Cup—Asia’s pioneering league’s crown jewel—tallied 21.2 million as San Miguel Beer regained the All-Filipino title and denied TNT a coveted treble.
In the 48th season, the Commissioner’s Cup got 16.9 million audience share from its airing over RPTV, PBA Rush, Cignal TV, and A2Z as the Beermen bagged the crown against Magnolia in six tiffs.
Meralco captured the import-less meet—the Bolts’ maiden title win—and thwarted SMB’s drive for a back-to-back, and received a 13.7 million audience share over RPTV, PBA Rush, and TV5.
The same can be said of the Pilipinas Live app where the league also enjoyed a huge number of viewership of 26 million total watch time for the Governors’ Cup, 36 million in the Commissioner’s Cup, and another 36 million in the Philippine Cup.
That was up from the 7.9 million total watch time for the Commissioner’s Cup and 7.4 million in the Philippine Cup during Season 48.
In the social media account of the league, a total of 1.8 billion views were registered from a combined share by both YouTube and Facebook from November to July.
