By JONAS TERRADO
The PBA Philippine Cup Finals have drawn huge numbers online through the first two games of the series that saw Barangay Ginebra San Miguel take a 2-0 lead over TNT.
One Sports received an average of almost 280,000 views on its Facebook page during the peak of Games 1 and 2, a testament to both Ginebra’s drawing power and the way how the two matches were decided.
Ginebra’s 100-94 overtime win in Game 1 had total views of 1.8 million while the same team’s 92-90 triumph in Game 2 generated 1.5 million on the same Facebook page.
Live broadcasts of Game 2 on other social media accounts got high numbers as well.
The PBA’s Facebook account got 1.5 million total views from the live airing of the game while PBA Rush and the social media account of the FIBA Asia Champions Cup each got 1.1 million total views.
Numbers could get even higher as the series goes on, especially with Ginebra fans ecstatic with their team being two wins away from capturing its first Philippine Cup title since 2007.
Online has become one of the major sources for PBA fans to watch games since the bubble began last Oct. 11.
Several Ginebra games in the elimination round got strong numbers while the return of Phoenix Super LPG star Calvin Abueva from a 16-month suspension in late-October drew stellar viewership as well.
