diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/ninegag.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/ninegag.py
index 6daae7318..d8e103189 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/ninegag.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/ninegag.py
@@ -58,9 +58,11 @@ def _real_extract(self, url):
 
         webpage = self._download_webpage(url, display_id)
 
-        post_view = json.loads(self._html_search_regex(
-            r'var\s+postView\s*=\s*new\s+app\.PostView\({\s*post:\s*({.+?})\s*,\s*posts:\s*prefetchedCurrentPost',
-            webpage, 'post view'))
+        post_view = self._parse_json(
+            self._search_regex(
+                r'var\s+postView\s*=\s*new\s+app\.PostView\({\s*post:\s*({.+?})\s*,\s*posts:\s*prefetchedCurrentPost',
+                webpage, 'post view'),
+            display_id)
 
         ie_key = None
         source_url = post_view.get('sourceUrl')