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Record social media viewership making up for dwindling PBA venue attendance
by REUBEN TERRADO
JUST NOW
DESPITE the decrease in attendance in venues, the PBA remains satisfied with its presence on social media and television as the league recorded highs in viewership in the two platforms recently.
PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said the prevailing trend is that the league’s fans tune in to the games more on social media rather than on venues following an increase in viewership on livestream on Facebook Live and YouTube.
The PBA reported season highs in viewership on Facebook Live in Game Seven of the Philippine Cup finals between San Miguel and Magnolia getting more than 260,000 viewers with those watching the match by an average of 57 minutes.
The game was reached by 5.6 million viewers, while all Game Seven related viewer content reached three million.
Game Seven also recorded a 4.8 rating or an estimated 2.1 million viewers over TV5.
Marcial said the numbers prove that the PBA remains popular among fans even though it might not necessarily reflect on attendance in venues. However, Marcial said the PBA is continuously making a concerted effort to increase attendance in games.
“Challenge talaga sa amin ito,” said Marcial, on the league’s bid to bring back fans at the venues. “’Yung attendance, tinitignan amin (maglagay ng) gimiks, live DJs. Pero ‘yung 13,000 (spectators at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum) nung Game Seven at ‘yung 260,000 plus na nanood, malaking bagay ‘yun.”
Marcial said the decrease in attendance has also affected other leagues and that could be blamed to traffic congestion in Metro Manila as well as economics.
“May nakausap akong fan, gumagastos ng 100 pesos na pamasahe, 100 sa ticket, 200 sa pagkain, 400 sa isang taon. Dalawa kami so 800 to 1,000 pesos. (Sabi ng fan) ibibili ko na lang ng bigas ‘yun.”
“Kung mapapansin mo, ‘yung ibang liga, kahit ilibre, ayaw din mapuno kasi gagastos. Pero dalhin mo sa probinsya na puwede mong lakarin, iba ‘yun. Nakikita ko na kahit ilibre natin ‘to, gagastos sila. Economics and traffic. Challenge pa rin sa atin kahit papaano,” said Marcial.
Still, the PBA board is determined to take advantage of the increase in its social media platform.
“Numbers are improving and increasing,” said PBA treasurer Raymond Zorilla of Phoenix Petroleum. “Even digital and time spent watching, viewership, the reach, they are all improving. It’s just a matter of tapping them. It’s being driven by the digital technology. It’s a different segment already of the PBA and its something that we need to tap and take advantage of.”
For his part, Meralco governor Al Panlilio said that although there is really a need to address the dwindling crowds at the venues, he sees a lot of potential of tapping more, new PBA fans due to social media, which in the end will be beneficial to the league.
“A lot of viewers are shifting to live stream,” said Panlilio. “It’s natural. I think the task of Comm. Willie is to expand ‘yung in-venue and traditional as well as how we can expand. Your normal PBA fan base is the traditional and in-venue. The digital is the younger population which is your future and current PBA fans. You also want to touch on them. That’s a big market.”
“We are still three times higher than any basketball event – NBA, MPBL, and the UAAP. The basketball tournament that’s being watched is still the PBA,” said Panlilio.
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