NBA viewership down

[Rainwater]

Sports teams have become vanity projects for the uber rich which combined with social media, China and gambling have increased their value thanks to the many new avenues that have been created to increase visibility and profits. Quality of product has nothing to do with it as the highest ratings the NBA has ever had and will have came from 1988 to 1998 (gee I wonder why).

Modern “stars” and teams are not nearly as engaging as those of the past which is also a major factor aside from the snooze fest Chuck and Duck fest style of play to why people prefer to watch 1 minute highlight rather than closely following the league

MLB and NHL team valuations and TV contracts have also gone through the roof as well and they have NOWHERE near the numbers of people watching it when compared to the 80’s and 90’s.

What is considered quality is subjective. And to compare ratings from the 80s,90s (basically the stone ages at this point) to today without considering how media is consumed is dumb and is a topic that has been beaten to death. We literally have the same conversation every year.

The NFL still breaks “old school” ratings records with the Super Bowl and playoffs every year so that is not an excuse. With the “old school” method LeBron the NBA’s supposed new “golden boy” still has some of the least watched Finals in history, that’s a fact.

You know what you never heard pundits and fans say back in the late 80’s early 90’s (the real NBA Golden Era)? “You know what we need? An ultra soft game with all teams playing 5 out offenses shooting only layups and 35+ 3’s a game basically killing physicality and cratering rivalries in the process!!!” No they just watched in the droves the peak of basketball with Jordan, Magic, Bird, Isiah, Olajuwon, Malone, Barkley and the dozens of other magnetic superstars and teams of the era! They even made meaningless All-Star Saturday and Sunday must see TV unlike the modern primadonas!

Nobody wanted this modern crap but the league was forced to change its rules and general paradigm to accommodate the low IQ fundamentals deficient AAU poisoned Allen Iverson disciples that just want to show off their “skilzzzzzzz” taking 20+ shots while shooting 42% from the field After Allen they decided to scrap all the strict drinking rules, fully eliminate hand checking and clear the paint with the 3 seconds defensive penalty to basically put a red carpet towards the rim for perimeter players.

The modern sanitized NBA is geared towards soccer moms and short attention span kid tik tokers with the “home run 3 pointer” at the center of its universe and it is the worst version of the “sport” since the original “cage ball” of the early 20th century

Again, all this is subjective. And everything you mentioned here has been discussed and debunked. Literally go back and read all the ratings threads since Covid, lol. You are just an old man yelling at a cloud at this point.

[Pelon chingon]

"Old men yelling at clouds" sit back and watch games after a long day at work so if that crowd isn't entertained the ratings will show.

[NBA4Lyfe]

yall aint seen nothing yet if yall think the nba viewership is bad right now. The worst is yet to come, because what do you think will happen once the david stern draftees retire in 3-4 years from now.. Right now steph, durant, kawhi, harden, etc are still playing. If you think for a single second that americans are going to sit through and watch a bunch of foreigners play and use skill not athletic ability you are sadly mistaken. Luka mavs and Jokics Nuggets are some of the lowest rated games since they have become established top 3 guys. I dont even know if shai has crossed over into mainstream sports. Giannis was hot for a year or so then lost to an 8-seed miami heat team and his star hasnt quite recovered

The nba is doing bad now.. but its gonna get worse. Especially when you bring up the fact that Jalen Green, Ja Morant, and Anthony Edwards all play the same way sortof

Jayson Tatum is a good player but his game is a bit reduntant

Adam Silver should have never been made commishner in the first place, it should have been Stu Jackson who shadowed Stern for more years than Adam. Stu would have never went away from the traditional nba values for MONEY

[HotelVitale]

They reverted right back to the nonsense officiating. Sixers and Raptors combined for 99 free throws the other night.

That was a brutal game but ratings for the overall season are never going to depend on the 11th seed playing a team missing its two most famous players and is awful without them. Boring draw no matter what. (Also that's a massive one-game outlier so far, seems like most games this year are in the 50 range of FTs so literally half of that total.)

Also in case you don't know there are significantly fewer FTs per game these days than in any other period in NBA history--last season was lowest of all time, and in general FTs are down nearly 50% from wher they were in the 80s. That can't be the cause of any drop off in ratings.

Silver needs to step down. Time to bring back old school defense and Chuck out the rule changes.

What rules are you thinking of? I agree that refs should stop calling touch fouls and only call consequential contact on drives (and be consistent about it), but none of the rules really enable that. People often talk about 'freedom of movement' but that's not called much and it's just about players moving off ball around screens etc, which isnt that common of a set these days. Handchecking is an old head scapegoat (didn't happen much in the past, still happens now, and didn't impact much when it did happen more) so hopefully we don't have to go into that.

If anything you probably just want the NBA to call its RS games like they do the PO. I'd definitely be down for that but I also don't think it'd make the difference people think. Logically it'd lead to more 3s for example, since the clogged up parts of the game would be less efficient.

[Mephariel]

yall aint seen nothing yet if yall think the nba viewership is bad right now. The worst is yet to come, because what do you think will happen once the david stern draftees retire in 3-4 years from now.. Right now steph, durant, kawhi, harden, etc are still playing. If you think for a single second that americans are going to sit through and watch a bunch of foreigners play and use skill not athletic ability you are sadly mistaken. Luka mavs and Jokics Nuggets are some of the lowest rated games since they have become established top 3 guys. I dont even know if shai has crossed over into mainstream sports. Giannis was hot for a year or so then lost to an 8-seed miami heat team and his star hasnt quite recovered

The nba is doing bad now.. but its gonna get worse. Especially when you bring up the fact that Jalen Green, Ja Morant, and Anthony Edwards all play the same way sortof

Jayson Tatum is a good player but his game is a bit reduntant

Adam Silver should have never been made commishner in the first place, it should have been Stu Jackson who shadowed Stern for more years than Adam. Stu would have never went away from the traditional nba values for MONEY

I think some people here are living in an alternative universe. Silver grew the NBA tremendously. Again, attendance is at an all time high and they just signed a record media deal and they are talking about expansion, even internationally.

[Pelon chingon]

They reverted right back to the nonsense officiating. Sixers and Raptors combined for 99 free throws the other night.

That was a brutal game but ratings for the overall season are never going to depend on the 11th seed playing a team missing its two most famous players and is awful without them. Boring draw no matter what. (Also that's a massive one-game outlier so far, seems like most games this year are in the 50 range of FTs so literally half of that total.)

Also in case you don't know there are significantly fewer FTs per game these days than in any other period in NBA history--last season was lowest of all time, and in general FTs are down nearly 50% from wher they were in the 80s. That can't be the cause of any drop off in ratings.

Silver needs to step down. Time to bring back old school defense and Chuck out the rule changes.

What rules are you thinking of? I agree that refs should stop calling touch fouls and only call consequential contact on drives (and be consistent about it), but none of the rules really enable that. People often talk about 'freedom of movement' but that's not called much and it's just about players moving off ball around screens etc, which isnt that common of a set these days. Handchecking is an old head scapegoat (didn't happen much in the past, still happens now, and didn't impact much when it did happen more) so hopefully we don't have to go into that.

If anything you probably just want the NBA to call its RS games like they do the PO. I'd definitely be down for that but I also don't think it'd make the difference people think. Logically it'd lead to more 3s for example, since the clogged up parts of the game would be less efficient.

Since "freedom of movement" was brought up the off ball stuff is often predicted by a smattering of illegal screens. That's influencing how the game is called to a detriment IMO.

[jvsimonetti0514]

The thing I’m very curious is how many people are watching illegally. The cable bundle is evaporating very quickly. ESPN has 68 million subscribers the last time I saw and it’s less and less everyday. Last season MSG networks most watch Knicks game was like 200k and the whole city seems very excited about this team. I just have a hard time imagining that there’s hundreds of thousands of people using streameast to explain where the tv audience has gone. NBA demo is younger, so maybe they’re just watching highlights and fan edits on YouTube? With the World Series doing 15 million per game and NFL Sunday on CBS doing 28 million the NBA has a lot of work cut out for them. That’s why I really like the moves linking up with NBC and Amazon. Over 200 million people have Amazon accounts and for like 20 bucks you can get broadcast tv for free. There should be a jump in viewership by these moves but by how much is going to be an interesting thing to see.

People can watch championships on broadcast TV for free or cheap, so they don’t need to use illegal streams. Views for championships are down compared to before, nearly at bottom levels. Half to one third peak Magic, Bird, MJ years. Interest has been low these past five years either through play or lack of true stars post Curry Lebron. I don’t see interest rising even in the next five years when the league rolls out gimmicks like in season tournaments and playins. When Cuban and Warriors minority investors are dumping shares of their team at around the same time, doesn’t sound like they have faith in the long term prospects of the league. Owning a franchise team used to be something an owner would never let go and pass on to their children.

It’s unfair to compare ratings in the 80’s and 90’s to now cuz there’s wayyy more competition for peoples attention now. There’s a dozen streamers, YouTube, TikTok, instagram, and way more complex videos games than they had 35 years ago. It’s also why the tv networks were desperate to give the nba a lot of money cuz in theory, live sports gets more interest.

Allegedly NBA content on social media does really well. So is waning interest or how people are consuming the sport? That’s why I’m curious on what the viewership is going to look like for the week night games on nbc. Should be able to give us a better idea if there’s a decent amount of audience that isn’t being picked up by watching illegally. I don’t think it’s the case that there’s a lot of people watching illegal but it be a way better scenario for the league than the alternative. Which is the NBA can’t get people to sit down and watch full games.

[Showtime 80]

The thing I’m very curious is how many people are watching illegally. The cable bundle is evaporating very quickly. ESPN has 68 million subscribers the last time I saw and it’s less and less everyday. Last season MSG networks most watch Knicks game was like 200k and the whole city seems very excited about this team. I just have a hard time imagining that there’s hundreds of thousands of people using streameast to explain where the tv audience has gone. NBA demo is younger, so maybe they’re just watching highlights and fan edits on YouTube? With the World Series doing 15 million per game and NFL Sunday on CBS doing 28 million the NBA has a lot of work cut out for them. That’s why I really like the moves linking up with NBC and Amazon. Over 200 million people have Amazon accounts and for like 20 bucks you can get broadcast tv for free. There should be a jump in viewership by these moves but by how much is going to be an interesting thing to see.

People can watch championships on broadcast TV for free or cheap, so they don’t need to use illegal streams. Views for championships are down compared to before, nearly at bottom levels. Half to one third peak Magic, Bird, MJ years. Interest has been low these past five years either through play or lack of true stars post Curry Lebron. I don’t see interest rising even in the next five years when the league rolls out gimmicks like in season tournaments and playins. When Cuban and Warriors minority investors are dumping shares of their team at around the same time, doesn’t sound like they have faith in the long term prospects of the league. Owning a franchise team used to be something an owner would never let go and pass on to their children.

It’s unfair to compare ratings in the 80’s and 90’s to now cuz there’s wayyy more competition for peoples attention now. There’s a dozen streamers, YouTube, TikTok, instagram, and way more complex videos games than they had 35 years ago. It’s also why the tv networks were desperate to give the nba a lot of money cuz in theory, live sports gets more interest.

Allegedly NBA content on social media does really well. So is waning interest or how people are consuming the sport? That’s why I’m curious on what the viewership is going to look like for the week night games on nbc. Should be able to give us a better idea if there’s a decent amount of audience that isn’t being picked up by watching illegally. I don’t think it’s the case that there’s a lot of people watching illegal but it be a way better scenario for the league than the alternative. Which is the NBA can’t get people to sit down and watch full games.

There were a lot more distractions in 1998 than in every decade prior and that didn’t stop MJ and the Bulls from putting up record numbers in the Finals against the Jazz of all teams! Duncan, Kobe and Shaq could never come close to Jordan’s numbers in the immediate following years and LeBron had the lowest rated Finals in history for his 2007 stinker

When you’re must see tv, you’re must see tv it doesn’t matter what era and that’s why the NBA peaked in interest with MJ, Magic and Bird as no other stats before or after captured the public’s imagination the way they and their teams did.

[California Gold]

Read on Twitter

[wade44]

"Old men yelling at clouds" sit back and watch games after a long day at work so if that crowd isn't entertained the ratings will show.

The “old man yells at clouds” argument for anyone who doesn’t enjoy today’s game is cringe as hell. There are real gripes with today’s game that make it suck. Ironically the people complaining are likely 20-35 years old but sure “old man yells at clouds”. Lowbrow comment

[MrBigShot]

yall aint seen nothing yet if yall think the nba viewership is bad right now. The worst is yet to come, because what do you think will happen once the david stern draftees retire in 3-4 years from now.. Right now steph, durant, kawhi, harden, etc are still playing. If you think for a single second that americans are going to sit through and watch a bunch of foreigners play and use skill not athletic ability you are sadly mistaken. Luka mavs and Jokics Nuggets are some of the lowest rated games since they have become established top 3 guys. I dont even know if shai has crossed over into mainstream sports. Giannis was hot for a year or so then lost to an 8-seed miami heat team and his star hasnt quite recovered

The nba is doing bad now.. but its gonna get worse. Especially when you bring up the fact that Jalen Green, Ja Morant, and Anthony Edwards all play the same way sortof

Jayson Tatum is a good player but his game is a bit reduntant

Adam Silver should have never been made commishner in the first place, it should have been Stu Jackson who shadowed Stern for more years than Adam. Stu would have never went away from the traditional nba values for MONEY

I think some people here are living in an alternative universe. Silver grew the NBA tremendously. Again, attendance is at an all time high and they just signed a record media deal and they are talking about expansion, even internationally.

I think he is a competent commissioner but I believe the nba would have grown as it has irregardless of whether or not silver was in charge. I attribute the growth of the league largely due to superstars like LeBron and Steph.

[Shock Defeat]

Read on Twitter

Dodgers Yankees was literally the MLB's marquee matchup. Ohtani, Judge, the biggest markets, etc.

The equivalent would be Knicks/Lakers finals which I think would put up similar numbers.

[NBA4Lyfe]

yall aint seen nothing yet if yall think the nba viewership is bad right now. The worst is yet to come, because what do you think will happen once the david stern draftees retire in 3-4 years from now.. Right now steph, durant, kawhi, harden, etc are still playing. If you think for a single second that americans are going to sit through and watch a bunch of foreigners play and use skill not athletic ability you are sadly mistaken. Luka mavs and Jokics Nuggets are some of the lowest rated games since they have become established top 3 guys. I dont even know if shai has crossed over into mainstream sports. Giannis was hot for a year or so then lost to an 8-seed miami heat team and his star hasnt quite recovered

The nba is doing bad now.. but its gonna get worse. Especially when you bring up the fact that Jalen Green, Ja Morant, and Anthony Edwards all play the same way sortof

Jayson Tatum is a good player but his game is a bit reduntant

Adam Silver should have never been made commishner in the first place, it should have been Stu Jackson who shadowed Stern for more years than Adam. Stu would have never went away from the traditional nba values for MONEY

I think some people here are living in an alternative universe. Silver grew the NBA tremendously. Again, attendance is at an all time high and they just signed a record media deal and they are talking about expansion, even internationally.

I think he is a competent commissioner but I believe the nba would have grown as it has irregardless of whether or not silver was in charge. I attribute the growth of the league largely due to superstars like LeBron and Steph.

LeBron has been the biggest driving force behind the decline of the nba. And the numbers/ decline in viewership prove it from his unaesthetic/bully-ball style of play to using his illegally owned agency to hire people on to espn/fs1 to always talk good about him and “diss” his ops like Steph, kd and Kawhi. Bobby Hurley turned down 80 million to coach the “the king.” lol he is toxic for any team or coach, he “makes” players better but Kyrie was already an all star before LeBron came to Cleveland and explain all stars like Kevin love and Chris Bosh had their career trajectory altered playing an having to sacrifice for him

A player who makes others better is a player like prime james harden or Chris Paul. Look at the big men they got paid and made relevant

[NBA4Lyfe]

Read on Twitter

Dodgers Yankees was literally the MLB's marquee matchup. Ohtani, Judge, the biggest markets, etc.

The equivalent would be Knicks/Lakers finals which I think would put up similar numbers.

Cope!

Then explain Iowa basketball

The decline in viewership has nothing to do with the popularity of franchises. People don’t like watching bron. And without the klutch sports controlled media attaching the youths fascination with Steph curry’s popularity to LeBron, he would have been irrelevant years prior following the “no ac induced cramps” in the 2014 nba finals. And it’s also clear the employees on old media are paid and financed by klutch sports which is why LeBron is never held accountable, if you follow people in the know on social media they will tell you straight up that LeBron has to only get asked post game questions from people he knows the answers to..

Read on Twitter

?s=46

[NBA4Lyfe]

People can watch championships on broadcast TV for free or cheap, so they don’t need to use illegal streams. Views for championships are down compared to before, nearly at bottom levels. Half to one third peak Magic, Bird, MJ years. Interest has been low these past five years either through play or lack of true stars post Curry Lebron. I don’t see interest rising even in the next five years when the league rolls out gimmicks like in season tournaments and playins. When Cuban and Warriors minority investors are dumping shares of their team at around the same time, doesn’t sound like they have faith in the long term prospects of the league. Owning a franchise team used to be something an owner would never let go and pass on to their children.

It’s unfair to compare ratings in the 80’s and 90’s to now cuz there’s wayyy more competition for peoples attention now. There’s a dozen streamers, YouTube, TikTok, instagram, and way more complex videos games than they had 35 years ago. It’s also why the tv networks were desperate to give the nba a lot of money cuz in theory, live sports gets more interest.

Allegedly NBA content on social media does really well. So is waning interest or how people are consuming the sport? That’s why I’m curious on what the viewership is going to look like for the week night games on nbc. Should be able to give us a better idea if there’s a decent amount of audience that isn’t being picked up by watching illegally. I don’t think it’s the case that there’s a lot of people watching illegal but it be a way better scenario for the league than the alternative. Which is the NBA can’t get people to sit down and watch full games.

There were a lot more distractions in 1998 than in every decade prior and that didn’t stop MJ and the Bulls from putting up record numbers in the Finals against the Jazz of all teams! Duncan, Kobe and Shaq could never come close to Jordan’s numbers in the immediate following years and LeBron had the lowest rated Finals in history for his 2007 stinker

When you’re must see tv, you’re must see tv it doesn’t matter what era and that’s why the NBA peaked in interest with MJ, Magic and Bird as no other stats before or after captured the public’s imagination the way they and their teams did.

Isn’t the game 7 in the 2010 finals still the highest since game 6 of the 98 finals

[WarriorGM]

If the NBA is attaching itself to Nike's marketing campaign then the prognosis isn't that bright true.

Was Showtime 80 even watching television in the 90s? If he was he should know about the big three channels that dominated it.

[Bob Ross]

How can this be true after all the Embiid has done for the city Philadelphia

[Ito]

Well I’m watching the Knicks right now looking like we coming out the East this year

[Infinite Llamas]

Read on Twitter

Dodgers Yankees was literally the MLB's marquee matchup. Ohtani, Judge, the biggest markets, etc.

The equivalent would be Knicks/Lakers finals which I think would put up similar numbers.

Cope!

Then explain Iowa basketball

The decline in viewership has nothing to do with the popularity of franchises. People don’t like watching bron. And without the klutch sports controlled media attaching the youths fascination with Steph curry’s popularity to LeBron, he would have been irrelevant years prior following the “no ac induced cramps” in the 2014 nba finals. And it’s also clear the employees on old media are paid and financed by klutch sports which is why LeBron is never held accountable, if you follow people in the know on social media they will tell you straight up that LeBron has to only get asked post game questions from people he knows the answers to..

Read on Twitter

?s=46

Wtf do you care so much about ratings?

Watch whatever you like. Why spend all this time trying to trash a league you clearly have no interest. Just move on lol.

[LockoutSeason]

Read on Twitter

Dodgers Yankees was literally the MLB's marquee matchup. Ohtani, Judge, the biggest markets, etc.

The equivalent would be Knicks/Lakers finals which I think would put up similar numbers.

Cope!

Then explain Iowa basketball

The decline in viewership has nothing to do with the popularity of franchises. People don’t like watching bron. And without the klutch sports controlled media attaching the youths fascination with Steph curry’s popularity to LeBron, he would have been irrelevant years prior following the “no ac induced cramps” in the 2014 nba finals. And it’s also clear the employees on old media are paid and financed by klutch sports which is why LeBron is never held accountable, if you follow people in the know on social media they will tell you straight up that LeBron has to only get asked post game questions from people he knows the answers to..

Read on Twitter

?s=46

What are the ratings for Iowa basketball going to look like this year?