LivingLegend wrote:The problem isnt the ratings in this Finals series. This was their cash cow after a abysmal playoffs. Whats going to happen is the interest and the ratings after this 'Part3' ratings fest is over and they struggle to sell any sort of narrative for next season during the regular season to keep interest.
I honestly think it does well now--but they mortgaged the future interest to achieve short term gain.
Here is the proof:
NBA television viewership took a dive during the 2016-17 season, according to an analysis by Sports Business Journal.The SBJ analysis, which looked at local ratings for 27 of the 30 NBA teams, found a 14 percent drop from the previous year. Twenty regional sports networks reportedly saw their ratings decline, including 15 that experienced double-digit decreases. National television ratings were also down in 2016-17, suggesting a broader trend in NBA viewership. NBA game ratings on regional sports networks were down 15 percent in total.
The NBA’s steepest drops are in Dallas and Orlando. The Mavericks’ ratings average has fallen 53 percent so far during a season in which the team has stayed well below the .500 mark. The Magic’s local game ratings are down 50 percent as the team has crawled to the second worst record in the Eastern Conference. Even the normally reliable Spurs ratings registered a 43 percent drop so far this season.
The numbers have in most cases fallen back to 2008 levels, and the league is even further back of the college game. For a league in fairly obvious decline, it is doing about as well as possible. ABCs regular season ratings are at an all time low in 2016-2017 down 17% since the 2015 season and have dipped below their second worst rating season in 2006-2007
You can say the Playoffs were "abysmal" but in reality the ratings were up for the entire Playoffs.
Second of all the regular season was down, but it was down across all sports. Including the NFL.
Seems to be a problem of people watching less regular season games due to lack of time or a variety of other factors. People aren't watching as many regular season games in general.
In reality the NBA makes more money during the palyoffs than the entire regular season combined. Before then people are more focused on the NFL and March Madness. May/June is when the NBA is king.
As far as the "narrative" for next season, people are going to want to watch the Warriors again.
When the Lakers almost swept their way through the whole Playoffs, I don't remember the ratings declining for the next year. In fact they went up.
There will always be narratives to play. People are not going to lose interest in the NBA because there is one dominant team. Thats complete nonsense.
People lose interest in the NBA when there is more "parity" and the NBA Finals ends up being the Pistons vs the Spurs.
Nobody wants to watch that.
