ESPN's NBA Finals halftime "show" is 12 minutes of ads and one minute of actual analysis
One of the biggest stories in sports media the past few weeks revolved around the NBA Finals hosting assignment. Obviously there’s a lot of pregame and postgame coverage, but watching just the halftime show, if you can call it that, you’d be forgiven for wondering why anyone would want to host.
From the end of the second quarter to the start of the third quarter, ESPN (well, ABC, but it’s an ESPN presentation/production so we’re referring to it that way) has routinely aired twelve minutes of commercials. If you’re looking for analysis on the important game you’re watching, you may be better served scrolling NBA Twitter while walking your dog, taking a dump, or doing your dishes.
ESPN has to know they’re pissing people off but has decided that the juice is worth the squeeze. The network makes about $50 million per Finals game, and a meaty chunk of that comes at halftime. TNT’s halftime show during the Eastern Conference Finals was only 48% commercials, per our analysis. That’s still a lot, but at least the majority of halftime has actual content and analysis.
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