ESPN, ABC Court Viewers for NBA

ESPN, ABC Court Viewers for NBA

Aim to Maintain Live Sports’ Hold on Viewers, Advertisers

By Jon Lafayette

With ratings and ad sales already up this season for their National Basketball Association games, ESPN and ABC Sports are looking to pick up the pace with some nontraditional promotions for basketball season.

The promo ideas range from a recreational vehicle that will be traveling to Sunday afternoon games being broadcast on ABC to a special version of Google Earth that lets fans find basketball hot spots, including the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., and Rucker Park in New York’s Harlem.

As the writers strike changes network schedules, advertisers have been flocking to live sports, where there’s also a good chance viewers will stay tuned for commercials. And the NBA games are certainly no exception.

“We are seeing new advertisers come into this sport,” said Ed Erhardt, president of ESPN and ABC Sports customer marketing and sales.

He said Hanes has signed on as the presenting sponsor of ESPN’s Wednesday night games. Wrigley also has signed on for a major multiplatform package.

Also lacing up for NBA coverage are some European and Japanese auto makers.

“When you look at sports, it tends to be about people buying a lot of scatter, and the scatter market is robust,” Mr. Erhardt said. But with the larger sponsorships and the multimedia deals, “You’re talking about someone who wants the NBA.”