2003-04 Season Delivers Big For NBA; Double-digit Increases in Merchandise Sales, TV Ratings, NBA.com Traffic, NBA TV Distribution, Reading & Learning Centers Opened And Strong Attendance Highlight League Success.Business Editors/Retail Writers/Television & Advertising Writers NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 20, 2004 The 2003-04 NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= regular season has provided record breaking NBA.com traffic and merchandise sales, strong regular season ratings for NBA television partners, the fourth highest attendance in league history, significant growth in distribution and viewership for NBA TV NBA TV is a television network that is dedicated to showcasing the sport of basketball in the United States. The network is financially backed by the National Basketball Association (NBA), which also used NBA TV as a way of advertising their Pay Per View programming. and the development of 23 new NBA Reading & Learning Centers. Attendance -- This year's average attendance of 17,050 fans per game is the highest since the 1997-98 season (17,135), the last season the NBA averaged more than 17,000 fans per game. NBA arenas were filled to more than 89.2% capacity, the fourth highest percent capacity all-time and the highest total since the 1997-98 season. Overall, 20,272,195 fans attended regular season games this season an increase of nearly 200,000 fans versus last season when 20,074,369 fans attended regular season games. Ratings -- TNT TNT: see trinitrotoluene. TNT in full trinitrotoluene Pale yellow, solid organic compound made by adding nitrate (−NO2) groups to toluene. concluded its' 52 game NBA regular season package by posting a 1.4 national cable rating, up 17% from the network's 1.2 average for 54 games in 2002-2003. TNT also enjoyed double-digit growth across all key demographics and in overall household reach, including a 16% increase in Households (HH) to 1,196,000, a 19% jump in Adults 18-34 (469,000), a 13% gain in Adults 18-49 (813,000), a 14% rise in Adults 25-54 (544,000), an impressive 21% jump for Males 18-34 (351,000), a 16% rise for Males 18-49 (596,000) and a 14% increase in Males 25-54 (544,000). -- ESPN's NBA audience grew 14% in the network's second season, with an average of 1,186,000 households for the 64 regular-season game telecasts, up from 1,039,000 for the 2002-03 season. For the year, ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network averaged a 1.3 rating, up 8% vs. a 1.2 for the 69 games last season. In addition to the audience growth, ESPN also showed growth in the key demographics: Men 18-34 were up 3% in impressions, from 330,000 to 339,000; Men 18-49 were up 9%, from 575,000 to 625,000; and Men 25-54 were up 19%, from 482,000 to 575,000. -- ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. Sports coverage of the NBA during the regular season reached 17% more viewers with an increase of more than 9 million total impressions. Total household ratings increased 15% versus last season (42.8 vs. 37.1 in 2002-03) while average household ratings were down 8% (2.4 this year vs. 2.6 in 2002-03). -- This season, the NBA on regional sports networks averaged a 2.3 rating, a 10% ratings increase versus the 2002-03 season (2.1 rating). Merchandise Sales -- This year's double-digit increase in sales has led the NBA to enjoy its best year ever in terms of merchandise sales. The increasing popularity of NBA jerseys, headwear head·wear n. A hat or other covering for the head. , toys, electronic games Electronic Games was the first video game magazine published in the United States and ran from 1981 to 1985. Co-founded by Arnie Katz, Joyce Worley and Bill Kunkel, it is unrelated to the subsequent Electronic Gaming Monthly. and numerous other products have resulted in a 25% increase in combined sales at the NBA Store on Fifth Avenue and the NBA Store on NBA.com. A variety of new product offerings from Reebok Ree´bok` n. 1. (Zool.) The peele. blending retro looks with today's top players, including the launch of NBA D'Funkd, launched this season. The NBA's Hardwood Classics Nights program, which included retro jerseys worn by 12 NBA teams during games, continues its strong sales in its third season. NBA.com -- NBA.com set the all-time record for traffic to the site during the 2003-04 NBA regular season with 2.3 billion page views and 315 million total visits. The new records represent an increase of 43% and nearly 30% respectively, when compared to the previous highs of 1.6 billion page views and 245 million visits established during the 2002-03 regular season. -- For the first time, more than half of all page views and visits came from fans located outside the U.S. - representing more international traffic to NBA.com than any other U.S.-based sports Web site. NBA TV -- NBA TV, the league's 24-hour television channel, reached new agreements this season with four of the six leading cable operators -- Comcast, Time Warner Cable This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. , Cox Communications Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television and telecommunications services in the United States. It is the third-largest[2] cable television provider in the United States, serving more than 6. and Cablevision - and increased the channel's availability to 66 million U.S. The channel, already available to 21 million homes through the nation's largest satellite providers DIRECTV and DISH Network See DBS. , more than tripled the number of homes it reaches. -- The channel expanded its international coverage by adding nine additional countries and is now seen in 39 countries, and for the first time, in France and Russia. -- This season's NBA TV lineup expanded with more than 200 games, up to 50 NBA games in high-definition. NBA TV televised more than 20 original and exclusive programs, including new reality miniseries, interview shows, documentary series, nightly highlight shows and programs focused solely on international basketball, WNBA WNBA Women's National Basketball Association WNBA World Ninepin Bowling Association WNBA Wannabe Nasty Boys Association WNBA Women's National Book Association, Inc. WNBA Warszawski Nurt Basketu Amatorskiego , NBDL NBDL National Basketball Development League NBDL Naval Biodynamics Laboratory NBDL National Biodynamics Laboratory and NBA Legends. NBA TV has more than 20 on-air correspondents and over 25 national NBA and non-NBA advertising partners. Read To Achieve -- Through the Read to Achieve program, the NBA's year-round initiative that encourages young people to develop a life-long love of reading, the league and its teams have opened 23 new Reading & Learning Centers this season alone, bringing the total number of Reading & Learning Centers to 89, including one at the Ithuteng Trust, a school located in South Africa South Africa, Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. . Read to Achieve, the most extensive educational outreach initiative in the history of professional sports The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. , reaches an estimated 50 million children a year. During the 2003-04 season, more than one million books, literacy magazines, educational cd-roms and more than 100 computers have been provided to youth-serving organizations. Marketing Partners -- NBA marketing partners utilized their relationship with the league at record levels with all 21 partners conducting promotions around NBA All-Star 2004 in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. in addition to their promotional activity around Premiere Week, the NBA Playoffs and The Finals. NBA marketing partners executed a variety of innovative programs to reach NBA fans this year including the American Express American Express (NYSE: AXP), sometimes known as "AmEx" or "Amex", is a diversified global financial services company, headquartered in New York City. The company is best known for its credit card, charge card and traveler's cheque businesses. Tribute to Magic Johnson “Earvin Johnson” redirects here. For the Milwaukee Bucks center, see Ervin Johnson. Earvin Effay Johnson, Jr. (born August 14, 1959 in Lansing, Michigan), nicknamed Magic event and TNT TV special at NBA All-Star 2004, Finals 1 -The Finals-branded airplane by Southwest Airlines This article is about the American airline. For the former Japanese airline, see Japan Transocean Air. For the British airline, see Air Southwest. Southwest Airlines Co. and creative new TV spots from Reebok, Nike, adidas, Sprite and Gatorade. The NBA also established new marketing alliances with RadioShack, Yahoo! and The History Channel. NBDL Call-ups -- The NBDL has had seventeen Gatorade callups this season, the most that the NBDL has had since beginning competition in November of 2001. The league registered eight callups in the first season and 14 last year. In less than three full seasons, 28 NBDL players have received 39 "Gatorade Callups" to play for NBA teams. Six players who were called up from the NBDL, including the Miami Heat's Rafer Alston Rafer Jamel Alston, a.k.a. Skip To My Lou or Skip 2 My Lou (born July 24, 1976 in Queens, New York City), is an American professional basketball player currently with the NBA's Houston Rockets. , the Indiana Pacers' Anthony Johnson, the Denver Nuggets' Chris Andersen, the Houston Rockets' Mike Wilks, the San Antonio Spurs' Devin Brown and Jason Hart are featured on 2004 NBA Playoffs rosters. International Growth -- A record of 73 international players from 34 countries and territories were on opening day rosters (both active and injured) for the NBA 2003-04 season, breaking last season's previous record of 68 international players from 36 countries and territories. NBA regular season games and programming were seen in more than 212 countries around the world with broadcasts in 42 different languages via a record 151 different television partners, reaching a global audience of 3.1 billion people. -- The NBA and its teams issued a record 2,454 media credentials to international reporters from 48 countries and territories who covered regular season games in the 2003-04 season. |
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