Game 1 of the Finals posts horrific TV ratings

[levon]

In addition to poor hype, I’m with the No Dunks guys about how pathetic the fanfare was for the game. Anybody flipping through the channels spent be able to visually notice it was an NBA Finals game, which could lose out on some random casuals. That’s on both the NBA and ABC.

Listening to Breen Richard and Doris is like watching paint dry, too. I watched the end of the game with the TV muted and didn't feel like I missed anything.

Ratings are mostly about drawing casuals, and I don’t think casual viewers would know enough about which broadcast team they like or not until they’ve already committed to watching, so I don’t that scared anybody off. I think the bigger issue was not tuning in at all, and a smaller percentage skipping over the game forgetting that it is an important game. They put all that effort into the NBA Cup to make it stand out, which even resulted in my wife pausing when she saw the courts and said “what is this?”, but she wouldn’t know it was an NBA Finals game if I didn’t point out why I’m not leaving my seat unless it is a commercial.

I agree that presentation matters but my argument is the commentators are the biggest part of that. They sound like crusty old farts. If the broadcast is energized, I'd watch professional bocce for all I care.

[Raps in 4]

Illegal streaming numbers don’t matter because they are not monetized and that number is not that big anyway.

Exactly.

The Bucks were a finely tuned, well-coached machine before Lillard went down. They were clearly going to make a deep playoff run.

The Celtics were about to come back from 2-1 down in the Knicks series before Tatum got injured (even though they were losing the game he got injured in, everyone knew they were about to turn it around).

[Meat]

donovan mitchell, lillard and tatum were injured. that's the only reason why pacers are in the finals.

injuries arent a bug if the game, they're a feature. Maybe the cavs, bucks and celtics shouldn't have built such a top heavy team where they rely on 2 players for 80% of their offense

[Raps in 4]

Listening to Breen Richard and Doris is like watching paint dry, too. I watched the end of the game with the TV muted and didn't feel like I missed anything.

Ratings are mostly about drawing casuals, and I don’t think casual viewers would know enough about which broadcast team they like or not until they’ve already committed to watching, so I don’t that scared anybody off. I think the bigger issue was not tuning in at all, and a smaller percentage skipping over the game forgetting that it is an important game. They put all that effort into the NBA Cup to make it stand out, which even resulted in my wife pausing when she saw the courts and said “what is this?”, but she wouldn’t know it was an NBA Finals game if I didn’t point out why I’m not leaving my seat unless it is a commercial.

I agree that presentation matters but my argument is the commentators are the biggest part of that. They sound like crusty old farts. If the broadcast is energized, I'd watch professional bocce for all I care.

I just learned that field curling is a sport.

[Meat]

Illegal streaming numbers don’t matter because they are not monetized and that number is not that big anyway.

Exactly.

The Bucks were a finely tuned, well-coached machine before Lillard went down. They were clearly going to make a deep playoff run.

The Celtics were about to come back from 2-1 down in the Knicks series before Tatum got injured (even though they were losing the game he got injured in, everyone knew they were about to turn it around).

they were about to lose that game when tatum got injured, what are you talking about??? they were down 9 with just under 3 mins to go

[Raps in 4]

donovan mitchell, lillard and tatum were injured. that's the only reason why pacers are in the finals.

injuries arent a bug if the game, they're a feature. Maybe the cavs, bucks and celtics shouldn't have built such a top heavy team where they rely on 2 players for 80% of their offense

There is also a reason why more veteran teams try to load manage throughout the season and settle for winning around 50 games. 60-win seasons are cool, but you run the risk of losing players for the playoffs when you're running them into the ground trying to win every regular season game.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Illegal streaming numbers don’t matter because they are not monetized and that number is not that big anyway.

They do matter, because the people watching will engage with other NBA media. Also, some of those illegal streams still have commercials all the same.


The NBA has a unique problem, they have incredible online numbers and engagement and it's hard to get a real grasp on the health of the league from that. For example, real sports app is fairly new, I don't know where a lot of their users are from but this is telling

Read on Twitter

?t=Vui9Wa7oJi4XXbBQrrbN4w&s=19


On their app the NBA is only trailing the NFL by a small margin. There were 400k people that aren't factored into TV ratings keeping up with the game, now how many people around the world were watching if a small app like this has those type of numbers.

[Raps in 4]

Illegal streaming numbers don’t matter because they are not monetized and that number is not that big anyway.

Exactly.

The Bucks were a finely tuned, well-coached machine before Lillard went down. They were clearly going to make a deep playoff run.

The Celtics were about to come back from 2-1 down in the Knicks series before Tatum got injured (even though they were losing the game he got injured in, everyone knew they were about to turn it around).

they were about to lose that game when tatum got injured, what are you talking about??? they were down 9 with just under 3 mins to go

You weren't watching. The Celtics were about to turn up the heat in the last 3 minutes. They had the Knicks right where they wanted them. But even if they somehow lost that game (there was no chance of that happening, but let's just say hypothetically), everyone knows the Celtics would have come back from 3-1 down. And there was no way Indy was going to beat a healthy Celtics team. Zero chance.

If the Pacers win the title here, it's going to have the biggest asterisk of all time. The Celtics are the real champs this year. Or the Bucks. Or the Lakers. Nobody talks about how the Lakers were robbed this year (if Pelinka didn't call off that trade for Williams, they win the title easily). There are at least 3 or 4 teams that deserve the title more than the Pacers this year.

[levon]

Ratings are mostly about drawing casuals, and I don’t think casual viewers would know enough about which broadcast team they like or not until they’ve already committed to watching, so I don’t that scared anybody off. I think the bigger issue was not tuning in at all, and a smaller percentage skipping over the game forgetting that it is an important game. They put all that effort into the NBA Cup to make it stand out, which even resulted in my wife pausing when she saw the courts and said “what is this?”, but she wouldn’t know it was an NBA Finals game if I didn’t point out why I’m not leaving my seat unless it is a commercial.

I agree that presentation matters but my argument is the commentators are the biggest part of that. They sound like crusty old farts. If the broadcast is energized, I'd watch professional bocce for all I care.

I just learned that field curling is a sport.

I had ESPN on all week as background noise for the dogs and I learned professional cornhole is a thing.

[Duke4life831]

I’ll use myself and friend group as an anecdotal example. Since middle school I’ve been a die hard basketball fan, all my friends were basketball fans. I’m kind of the key demographic for the NBA and sports in general. 34, lifelong sports fan, with lots of miscellaneous spending opportunity. My friends fall into the same group. I mean I’ve been a mod on this place multiple times. I was a very “pro league pass” guy on here for years. I stopped buying league pass and didn’t watch a single entire game during the regular season. I talked to a buddy the other day, he didn’t even know the Finals were about to start. I don’t have a single buddy that watches the NBA anymore. But my phone blows up every Sunday during the NFL season from them.

Same boat.

The NBA regular season is tedious. The casual fan is not going to stay tuned in on a regular basis.

I find that the NFL doesn't have that problem.

Yup. And the NFL has no issues keeping young people’s attention as well, and not just for 2.5-3 hours. It’s 7 hours every Sunday. And this is where the NFL is consumed very differently than the NBA. NFL fans watch NFl games. Your team has a bye week or playing at a different time? NFL fans are still plopping down to watch some games.

While the NBA, most fans just watch their team or favorite player play.

[Mamba81p]

Illegal streaming numbers don’t matter because they are not monetized and that number is not that big anyway.

They do matter, because the people watching will engage with other NBA media. Also, some of those illegal streams still have commercials all the same.


The NBA has a unique problem, they have incredible online numbers and engagement and it's hard to get a real grasp on the health of the league from that. For example, real sports app is fairly new, I don't know where a lot of their users are from but this is telling

Read on Twitter

?t=Vui9Wa7oJi4XXbBQrrbN4w&s=19


On their app the NBA is only trailing the NFL by a small margin. There were 400k people that aren't factored into TV ratings keeping up with the game, now how many people around the world were watching if a small app like this has those type of numbers.

The commercials are not targeted for the illegal streaming so that makes those ads almost useless.
NBA media makes the most money from subscribers not ads, per Disney earning reports, and those fans are highly unlikely to attend many games and spend the money there, so I am not sure how do you think they are monetized.
Those fans engaging later on social media, could generate some $ but that is peanuts really, and negligible.

[Ssj16]

I know people mock because we are all watching. But this stuff matters. TV money subsidizes the game and the stakeholders aren't going to like taking a lot less which means they will pass the costs on to us whether it be increased ticket pricing or a streaming service you are paying for.

We should want high ratings so that TV and advertisers are paying the costs, not us.

you really think the billionaire owners are gonna share the increased profits with me and you. good one

This is a great post. I remember when I could get raptor tickets in the nose bleeds for $10.

This was over 20 years ago and I'm sure the Raptors are worth so much more and bringing ridiculous profits but the tickets are now at least 5 times more.

Those profits and increase in team value certainly hasn't reduced ticket prices, lol.

[Infinite Llamas]

I’ll use myself and friend group as an anecdotal example. Since middle school I’ve been a die hard basketball fan, all my friends were basketball fans. I’m kind of the key demographic for the NBA and sports in general. 34, lifelong sports fan, with lots of miscellaneous spending opportunity. My friends fall into the same group. I mean I’ve been a mod on this place multiple times. I was a very “pro league pass” guy on here for years. I stopped buying league pass and didn’t watch a single entire game during the regular season. I talked to a buddy the other day, he didn’t even know the Finals were about to start. I don’t have a single buddy that watches the NBA anymore. But my phone blows up every Sunday during the NFL season from them.

Same boat.

The NBA regular season is tedious. The casual fan is not going to stay tuned in on a regular basis.

I find that the NFL doesn't have that problem.

Yup. And the NFL has no issues keeping young people’s attention as well, and not just for 2.5-3 hours. It’s 7 hours every Sunday. And this is where the NFL is consumed very differently than the NBA. NFL fans watch NFl games. Your team has a bye week or playing at a different time? NFL fans are still plopping down to watch some games.

While the NBA, most fans just watch their team or favorite player play.

As I’ve said before I have a buddy who thinks NFL is a worse product now but he still watches it for many hours on Sunday because it gives him an excuse to drink with his buddies and tune out his family for a bit.

May not speak to all fans but I think a lot of them sees it as a reason to drink socially and hang out with their buddies opposed to any great thing that the sport is doing.

[Mamba81p]

Illegal streaming numbers don’t matter because they are not monetized and that number is not that big anyway.

They do matter, because the people watching will engage with other NBA media. Also, some of those illegal streams still have commercials all the same.


The NBA has a unique problem, they have incredible online numbers and engagement and it's hard to get a real grasp on the health of the league from that. For example, real sports app is fairly new, I don't know where a lot of their users are from but this is telling

Read on Twitter

?t=Vui9Wa7oJi4XXbBQrrbN4w&s=19


On their app the NBA is only trailing the NFL by a small margin. There were 400k people that aren't factored into TV ratings keeping up with the game, now how many people around the world were watching if a small app like this has those type of numbers.

The commercials are not targeted for the illegal streaming so that makes those ads almost useless.
NBA media makes the most money from subscribers not ads, per Disney earning reports, and those fans are highly unlikely to attend many games and spend the money there, so I am not sure how do you think they are monetized.
Those fans engaging later on social media, could generate some $ but that is peanuts really, and negligible.

[Raps in 4]

I’ll use myself and friend group as an anecdotal example. Since middle school I’ve been a die hard basketball fan, all my friends were basketball fans. I’m kind of the key demographic for the NBA and sports in general. 34, lifelong sports fan, with lots of miscellaneous spending opportunity. My friends fall into the same group. I mean I’ve been a mod on this place multiple times. I was a very “pro league pass” guy on here for years. I stopped buying league pass and didn’t watch a single entire game during the regular season. I talked to a buddy the other day, he didn’t even know the Finals were about to start. I don’t have a single buddy that watches the NBA anymore. But my phone blows up every Sunday during the NFL season from them.

Same boat.

The NBA regular season is tedious. The casual fan is not going to stay tuned in on a regular basis.

I find that the NFL doesn't have that problem.

Yup. And the NFL has no issues keeping young people’s attention as well, and not just for 2.5-3 hours. It’s 7 hours every Sunday. And this is where the NFL is consumed very differently than the NBA. NFL fans watch NFl games. Your team has a bye week or playing at a different time? NFL fans are still plopping down to watch some games.

While the NBA, most fans just watch their team or favorite player play.

It's 3 hours once a week. It's easier to follow an 17 game season versus an 82 game season.

NFL fans also watch the sport differently. They'll often talk with friends or do other things while the game is running because there are so many breaks. It's a more social experience when watching with people, and when watching alone at home, it gives you a chance to do chores or work while the game is on.

[Ssj16]

How many celebrities were in the crowd? Why would I watch a sporting event without all the top celebrities in attendance? At least in the last series I could see what Timothee Chalamet and his girfriend were up to in the crowd. That was so cool.

Also, where the **** is Oklahoma City? I've never even heard of the place. How many movies and shows are filmed there? What are the beaches like? What about the nightlife? Why would I watch a sporting event that isn't taking place in a hip city?

Well played. It's so unbelievably dumb when the likes of Stephen A Smith sh*t on Toronto calling it boring when the city a team is playing in has no correlation to the actual product on the floor.

I hope Silver or whomever really tries and puts a stop to this ridiculous discourse because people are sheep.

[meekrab]

Illegal streaming numbers don’t matter because they are not monetized and that number is not that big anyway.

Exactly.

The Bucks were a finely tuned, well-coached machine before Lillard went down. They were clearly going to make a deep playoff run.

The Celtics were about to come back from 2-1 down in the Knicks series before Tatum got injured (even though they were losing the game he got injured in, everyone knew they were about to turn it around).

they were about to lose that game when tatum got injured, what are you talking about??? they were down 9 with just under 3 mins to go

Raps in 4 used Sarcasm! It's not very effective...

[NO-KG-AI]

The finals has poor ratings because the networks spend the entire year making sure the fans know that nobody should care unless a big market with a star they forced to their team is in the finals. They run the playbook all year, and after the finals doesn’t do well, it’ll be more reason for the NBA to goad it’s biggest stars to team up together in big markets. For as much as they slobber over Ant, it’s shocking they haven’t started nudging him to NY or La

[The Warrior]

donovan mitchell, lillard and tatum were injured. that's the only reason why pacers are in the finals.

Just salty is what I call it. Go cry some more under your bridge.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using RealGM mobile app

[The4thHorseman]

Not surprising with a Game 1 with two younger, small market teams that don't have an established media presence quite yet.

But I definitely do agree with Silver that it's really high time for the league and its media culture to evolve past this stupid and self-defeating fixation on market sizes. The product, in theory, should be able to transcend that like it does in other sports and for far too long the NBA and its fans have internalized this mindset that it's all that matters.

It'll definitely take some time since we still have the toxic douchers at ESPN rattling on about market sizes, but hopefully a series like this can eventually be a step towards that path.

Some of this is on Silver. No one told him to re-up with ESPN (which is 99% of the problem).They don't cover the league outside of Bron, who has never had MJ's ability to draw outsiders who don't normally watch the sport. If He wants to fix this then he needs to pull a Goodell and start forcing change at ESPN. From the presentation, to the commentators, the halftime show. It is all just very cheap and bland.

and we know this how?