The NBA playoffs provide local advertising opportunities from April to June. Viewership is high, with over 7.8 million tweets about the 2015 playoffs. The playoffs feature a best-of-five quarterfinals series and best-of-seven semifinals, conference finals, and championship. Fans watching games on cable TV tend to be educated, affluent, and active on social media, creating opportunities to leverage engagement across programming. The document provides an advertising guide with details on viewers, schedules, and analytics to help brands connect with basketball fans during the playoffs.

1. THE NBA PLAYOFFS
A guide to local advertising opportunities

2. ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES DURING THE NBA PLAYOFFS
THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE SEASON
• A 4-round playoff system that puts the top teams together, in which the conference
champions play for the NBA title
• The quarterfinals round brings more games and more excitement as a best-of-five
series
• The semifinals, conference finals and finals are a best-of-seven series
The Playoffs mean more games, more drama and more exposure
with NBA fans for your brand.

3. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
THE 2014 NBA PLAYOFFS HEADLINES
The ‘Heat’ was on as the top teams ‘Spurred’ into action.
• The Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 4 games
to 2 to win the 2015 NBA Championship. It was Golden State’s 4th title
in franchise history, but its first since 1975.
• The Warriors were led by NBA regular season MVP Stephan Curry,
who averaged 26 points per game in the Finals. But 6th man and
defensive specialist Andre Iguodala was named Finals MVP, the first
player in league history to be named the Finals MVP despite not
starting every game in a series.
• The Cavaliers returned to the NBA Finals for only the 2nd time in team
history (2007), both losses. However for top player LeBron James, it
was his 5th consecutive Finals appearance, dating back to his four
years with the Miami Heat. James has a career Finals record of 2
series wins (2012, 2013) and 4 losses (2007, 2011, 2014, 2015).
Fans won’t miss a shot – make sure your brand is there too.

4. WHO’S WATCHING
PLAYOFFS FANS ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS
Basketball attracts affluent and well-educated viewers
• 63% have some college education
• 50% are married
• Have household income of $250,000+ (129 index)
• 63% own their home
THOSE WATCHING BASKETBALL ON CABLE TV ARE:
Women
32%
Men
68%
16%
21%
19%
17%
14%
13%
0%
10%
20%
30%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
Gender Base: Adults 18+
Source: Scarborough USA Plus Research, Au14-Oct15, Total Survey Area, Adults 18+. Target Definition: Sports Viewed on Cable TV Networks. Past Year:
NBA playoffs. Population Estimates: Universe = 245,403,097; Target = 28,175,855 (11.5% of Universe)

5. 2015 NFL Draft
WWE Monday
Night Raw
First Take WWE SmackDown
2015 NBA Draft Hit the Floor
• ESPN tallied over 7.8M tweets for NBA Playoffs in 2015.
• The largest social activity came during the Houston Rockets
vs Golden State Warriors May 27th game, logging 1.2
millions tweets.
• TNT reigned supreme with their audience tweeting over
10.6 million times about the NBA Playoffs in 2015.
• 30% of those Tweeting about the NBA Playoffs were also
talking about other TV programs, of which 85% were on
cable, including:
• NFL Network’s 2015 NFL Draft
• TNT’s NBA Tip-Off
• E!’s Keeping Up With the Kardashians
• VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta
• Savvy marketing plans leverage the engagement of the
social audience by extending their message into
complementary programming.
1. Source: Millward Brown Digital + Twitter, December 2013
Source: SocialGuide Inc. Affinity Report: April 2015 – May 2015. NBA Pulled 11/2/15.
NETWORKS & PROGRAMS
SOCIAL TV ENGAGEMENT
People who tweeted about NBA Playoffs also
tweeted about these:
GENRES CATEGORIES
 Sports talk
 News
 Football
 Reality
 Comedy
LEVERAGE THE “SOCIAL” BUZZ IN YOUR AD SCHEDULE
Programming with a strong social presence increases ad recall by up to 33%.1
NBA PLAYOFFS MADE A BIG PLAY
ON TWITTER LAST SEASON.

6. SPORTS FANS ARE ONLINE
SPORTS FANS ARE WATCHING VIDEO ACROSS ALL SCREENS
40% have checked out sports content online.
Source: eMarketer. Most Sports Fans Have Yet to Gear Up for Games on Mobile. April 2015.
SIXTEEN PERCENT
of consumer sports content
is through a mobile device28%
22%
21%
WATCH HIGHLIGHT CLIPS
WATCH A GAME ON MOBILE
DOWNLOAD SPORTS APP
The most common online sports interactions:
ONE-FIFTH
of sports fans follow stats
via a “game tracker” online

7. Your Customers, Delivered
NBA PLAYOFFS
• Conference Quarterfinals: Saturday, April 16 – Sunday, May 1 ESPN, ESPD, TNT
• Conference Semifinals: Monday, May 2 – Monday, May 16 ESPN, ESPD, TNT
• Conference Finals: Tuesday, May 17 – Monday, May 30 ESPN, ESPD, TNT
• NBA Finals: Thursday, June 2 – Sunday, June 19 ESPD
PREMIERES
Saturday, April 16th
5:30pm – 8:00pm ET
Target Demo: M 18-24, M18-34, M18-49
Demographic HH A18-34 A18-49 A25-54 A35-64
National Ratings 3.6 2.4 2.3 2.3 2.1
Source: Nielsen National People Meter (NPower); CVG AA%; Live+SD; estimates are based on
national program averages from previous 2 seasons and are subject to change; actual
performance may vary by market, episode, etc.
The NBA Playoffs kick off in April and the Golden State Warriors may be defending their title to
see who can win the best of 7, claim the Eastern and Western conference titles, and ultimately
win the championship. New changes listed for 2016 will be 2 days between games when the
series changes locations. Sports always scores with Social with the 2015 NBA Playoffs logging
7.8 million tweets for ESPN and 10.6 millions tweets for TNT Playoff coverage spans April 16th
– June 19th on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and TNT.

8. LEARN MORE
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