NYP:6 new companies signed with Nets only b/c of JLin, TV ratings up 44%, Facebook up 86%, Twitter up 150%,attendance up
Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 12:20 am
After the failed Billy King era, the Nets are turning the page by bring in new blood with Sean Marks, Kenny Atkinson, and a lot of turnover up and down the franchise in both staffing and roster.
Their acquisition of Jeremy Lin has already had an impact off the court. A bunch of new companies signed with them, with half a dozen only doing so specifically because Jeremy Lin is there, according to the NY Post.
http://nypost.com/2016/11/17/jeremy-lin-has-raised-the-nets-profile-and-their-bottom-line/
In addition to the extra money coming into the franchise from new corporate partners, the demographic fanbase of the Nets have also expanded and diversified with Jeremy Lin's addition. TV ratings are up 44% even without Comcast.
I've always thought that Jeremy Lin's popularity as an international pop cultural icon beyond basketball allows him to have a more equitable gender split in fan base demographics, compared to athletes whose fan bases are more restricted to the traditionally overwhelming male sports fans. And that seems to be the case with growth in the female fan demographic of the Nets fan base reflected in these TV rating results.
And the Nets have taken advantage of the size and diversity of NYC and Jeremy's appeal to Asian Americans to help expand and diversify their crowds. The Billy King era with the "blue print" and attempt to create a splash with the relocation to NYC didn't go as well as they wanted, and engendered a mess to clean up with all those lost future picks. But in the post-Billy King era, it seems that the Nets are able to build the foundation of a new expanded fan base using Lin's New York appeal.
There's also been an uptick in the Nets brand on social media and globally. With a lot more fans paying attention to them.
I would say that part of it isn't only because of JLin. The positive reception and uptick should also be credited partly to the likeable good character roster that Sean Marks assembled that makes the team easy to root for. And you have Kenny Atkinson instituting a modern fast-paced offense that is fun to watch (Brook Lopez is shooting -- and making! -- three pointers) and the players never give up. And you also have the cloud of Billy King finally being shuffled off stage as they turn the page with a new organization top to bottom to deal with the post Billy King mess and chart a better path forward, so that's a point of optimism to inspire new fans or bring back old ones.
Nonetheless, I think it's safe to say that the Nets are definitely benefiting from the off-court popularity of Jeremy Lin. Few other players can help a franchise score half a dozen new corporate partners who join up specifically because of the acquisition of one player, or to suddenly expand the fan base and change the very demographics of it. Lebron certainly has that effect (like how Nike bought up billboards in the area ahead of his return to the Cavs, or how his fans followed him as he moved from Cavs to Heat to Cavs) -- and no, I'm not comparing JLin to Lebron's skill on the court or something ridiculous like that -- but it's rare for a player to cause a team to suddenly have an influx of cash from half a dozen new companies just because they added a guy onto their roster, before a single game has been played.
The Nets are still second banana behind the Knicks in NYC popularity, and a far cry from contention or being a "Super Team", but at least this is a good start at building a new foundation and expanding their fan base, and turning the page from the failed Billy King era. All the extra corporate partnership money, expanded and diversified fan base, and TV ratings that Jeremy Lin helps get them certainly doesn't hurt.
Their acquisition of Jeremy Lin has already had an impact off the court. A bunch of new companies signed with them, with half a dozen only doing so specifically because Jeremy Lin is there, according to the NY Post.
http://nypost.com/2016/11/17/jeremy-lin-has-raised-the-nets-profile-and-their-bottom-line/
New York Post wrote:Jeremy Lin has raised the Nets’ profile — and their bottom line
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The Nets didn’t have much direction — other than possibly straight down — before Marks’ arrival. But fans have been engaged by their grit, and the addition of Lin, one of the biggest social media profiles in the entire NBA, has helped as well.
The Nets have signed a number of new commercial partners, with sources telling The Post a half-dozen of them came on board specifically because of Lin. Neither the NBA nor the Nets provided specific figures for Lin’s jersey sales, but sources in both the league and the team confirmed he’s the team’s leading seller.
Lin finished second in the NBA in jersey sales in 2012, essentially selling more in the three months of Linsanity with the Knicks than all but one NBA star had all season. No Net cracked the top 20 last season, but the uber-popular point guard did despite starting just 13 games for the Hornets in Charlotte, a city with less than one-tenth the population of New York.
In addition to the extra money coming into the franchise from new corporate partners, the demographic fanbase of the Nets have also expanded and diversified with Jeremy Lin's addition. TV ratings are up 44% even without Comcast.
I've always thought that Jeremy Lin's popularity as an international pop cultural icon beyond basketball allows him to have a more equitable gender split in fan base demographics, compared to athletes whose fan bases are more restricted to the traditionally overwhelming male sports fans. And that seems to be the case with growth in the female fan demographic of the Nets fan base reflected in these TV rating results.
And the Nets have taken advantage of the size and diversity of NYC and Jeremy's appeal to Asian Americans to help expand and diversify their crowds. The Billy King era with the "blue print" and attempt to create a splash with the relocation to NYC didn't go as well as they wanted, and engendered a mess to clean up with all those lost future picks. But in the post-Billy King era, it seems that the Nets are able to build the foundation of a new expanded fan base using Lin's New York appeal.
Going into the sweep at Staples Center on Monday and Tuesday, the Nets’ ratings on YES were up 44 percent year-over-year, from 0.32 to 0.46. Their total viewers also were up 44 percent, and all of the key demographics had risen significantly. (They were up 44 percent in viewers 18-34, but only up 35 percent in men of that range, implying they have done exceptionally well with female fans).
Brooklyn also has seen encouraging signs at the gate. Attendance was down last season, and though it’s only up 2 percent, at 15,322, through the first five home dates compared to the same point last year, that 2015 stretch included a sellout for Kobe Bryant’s Barclays Center swan song and a game against the Celtics, who always draw in New York.
Lin is the first American of Taiwanese or Chinese descent to play in the NBA, and 200,000 of the city’s 570,000 residents of Chinese descent live in Brooklyn, so he has single-handedly changed the look of the crowd at Barclays Center.
“It’s fair to say our fan base is definitely becoming more diversified than ever before,’’ Yormark said.
There's also been an uptick in the Nets brand on social media and globally. With a lot more fans paying attention to them.
That also pales in comparison to Lin’s worldwide appeal, composites showing he’s top five in the NBA in social-media impact. He has two million Twitter followers and twice as many likes on Facebook — and the Nets are catching that spillover.
The Nets’ Twitter engagement was up over 150 percent last month from the same point a year ago, and they currently have 685,000 followers. The engagement on Facebook had spiked 86 percent in the same span, and the Nets have gained 50,000 fans since the news of Lin’s signing broke in July.
Those stats — as well as the rest of their front-office numbers — just figure to go up.
I would say that part of it isn't only because of JLin. The positive reception and uptick should also be credited partly to the likeable good character roster that Sean Marks assembled that makes the team easy to root for. And you have Kenny Atkinson instituting a modern fast-paced offense that is fun to watch (Brook Lopez is shooting -- and making! -- three pointers) and the players never give up. And you also have the cloud of Billy King finally being shuffled off stage as they turn the page with a new organization top to bottom to deal with the post Billy King mess and chart a better path forward, so that's a point of optimism to inspire new fans or bring back old ones.
Nonetheless, I think it's safe to say that the Nets are definitely benefiting from the off-court popularity of Jeremy Lin. Few other players can help a franchise score half a dozen new corporate partners who join up specifically because of the acquisition of one player, or to suddenly expand the fan base and change the very demographics of it. Lebron certainly has that effect (like how Nike bought up billboards in the area ahead of his return to the Cavs, or how his fans followed him as he moved from Cavs to Heat to Cavs) -- and no, I'm not comparing JLin to Lebron's skill on the court or something ridiculous like that -- but it's rare for a player to cause a team to suddenly have an influx of cash from half a dozen new companies just because they added a guy onto their roster, before a single game has been played.
The Nets are still second banana behind the Knicks in NYC popularity, and a far cry from contention or being a "Super Team", but at least this is a good start at building a new foundation and expanding their fan base, and turning the page from the failed Billy King era. All the extra corporate partnership money, expanded and diversified fan base, and TV ratings that Jeremy Lin helps get them certainly doesn't hurt.