Game 1 of the Finals posts horrific TV ratings

[azcatz11]

Could be worse. Imagine if Utah was playing?

Utah is responsible for the highest rated finals of all time

[Tracymcgoaty]

Because everyone in the media and the NBA sphere do a piss poor job marketing any other team other than the big market ones.

[SFour]

I think alot of people were expecting OKC to dominate and win the series in 4/5 games.....now that Pacers stole game 1 more people should be tuning in.

[D.Brasco]

Could be worse. Imagine if Utah was playing?

Utah is responsible for the highest rated finals of all time

I'm pretty sure that was Michael Jordan responsible for that. Also, they had a big star as their main player then, in Karl Malone.

[Michael Bradley]

How does this acccoub t for streaming?

TV ratings aren't as important as they used to be. That just means boomers in the US have tuned out. Streaming and international markets mean a lot more now, too

It's 2025. We need to stop pretending that live cable TV ratings mean anything

This. Someone get us those streaming numbers.

Streaming viewers are included in the number of people watching in the ratings. So those ratings numbers include the people that are streaming in whatever way, and not just live TV veiwers.

Yes but people consume media in many different ways these days. I doubt these numbers account for the millions of people streaming illegally, the people who are at get togethers or events with hundreds of people watching on a couple TVs, people watching the game cast online, watching via social media highlights, etc. My point is just because people aren't watching it live on TV doesn't mean it's not drawing a lot of attention

Nielsen now has an Out-of-Home measurement that they use in their ratings. From Google: "meaning they can accurately track viewing across the United States, including places like airports, bars, and restaurants." Nielsen also factors in legal streaming, so anyone who streamed ABC legally is counted in the number. It's not going to be 100% accurate but it's still a good measure of national interest. It's impossible to guess how many people are illegally streaming.

If the Finals was Knicks vs Lakers, then Game 1 would have had like 15 million viewers, and not because the illegal streamers decided to watch on ABC instead. It would have had bigger markets with more casual interest and more star power. This series is what it is.

[Potential]

Read on Twitter

All time record 500 million views on social media

[Blame Rasho]

Why do people care about ratings? Traditional media isn’t the way to measure engagement.

[Lalouie]

the general public doesn't know these CITIES. no one in the world knows these cities. there's no boston, so there goes everyone's recent memory of last year's dominating champs.

but the nba is a player dominant sport. so,,,,,,,,,,,

theres no lebron and no curry and no kd, so people who watch them are watching netflix streams

there's no jokic and no luka so there goes the slavic countries that makeup a large european base

there's no giannis so there goes his following

no hachimura so there goes japan

no wemby so there goes the spotlight

maybe canada is watching though

[ocelot17]

Colin cowherd and nick wright went on vacation before game one of the finals. Even they don’t care about the finals.

[jkvonny]

Could be worse. Imagine if Utah was playing?

Utah is responsible for the highest rated finals of all time

I'm pretty sure that was Michael Jordan responsible for that. Also, they had a big star as their main player then, in Karl Malone.

Chicago is the biggest market in the midwest, too.

NBC knew how to promote as well. Also, They loved Utah Stockton/Malone lol

[NO-KG-AI]

Because everyone in the media and the NBA sphere do a piss poor job marketing any other team other than the big market ones.

Not only do they not market them, they actively market against them.

[BrianInPhilly]

I think alot of people were expecting OKC to dominate and win the series in 4/5 games.....now that Pacers stole game 1 more people should be tuning in.

Yes agreed actually I think the “small market” correlation is purely a coincidence. I think it essentially plays zero factor into the ratings. I’d say it’s mainly -

1) people didn’t expect a super competitive finals.
2) These are newer teams without established casual fan bases (marketing plays into this
3) perceived lack of star power on Pacers side (marketing plays a factor)

The “small market” reasoning is minimal. Now if the argument is the small markets leads to poor marketing well that’s a connection that doesn’t have to exist. So it’s a marketing problem then.

[Lalouie]

,,,or it could be doris's fault

comparisons to football is silly. football is a cultural phenomenon in the usa and you cannot buck culture. tailgating is a cultural phenomenon. the only basketball tailgating is like,,,,,,,cameron indoor or someplace

[Backcountry]

Utah is responsible for the highest rated finals of all time

I'm pretty sure that was Michael Jordan responsible for that. Also, they had a big star as their main player then, in Karl Malone.

Chicago is the biggest market in the midwest, too.

NBC knew how to promote as well. Also, They loved Utah Stockton/Malone lol

That was definitely the Jordan effect. It was amplified by the fact it was probably going to be a second threepeat, and it was a rematch of the previous year's finals, but it was mainly down to Jordan. Utah vs Pacers wouldn't have come close.

But who cares? That was a great game the other night! And for the "Knicks would be better" people, the two times the Knicks made the finals in the 1990s were two of the three lowest rated finals of that decade, including the lowest.

[scrabbarista]

Could be worse. Imagine if Utah was playing?

Utah is responsible for the highest rated finals of all time

Probably the funniest use of the word "responsible" I've ever heard.

[Blame Rasho]

Could be worse. Imagine if Utah was playing?

Utah is responsible for the highest rated finals of all time

Probably the funniest use of the word "responsible" I've ever heard.

You underrate how far of a market Utah extends to. Boise and Spokane are massive.

[jokeboy86]

Could be worse. Imagine if Utah was playing?

Utah is responsible for the highest rated finals of all time

I'm pretty sure that was Michael Jordan responsible for that. Also, they had a big star as their main player then, in Karl Malone.

Speaking of Utah it does seem like in the 90s, Stern and the media knew how to market stars even when they weren't in the biggest markets. Like most casual fans knew who Drexler was in Portland, Stockton/Malone in Utah, Reggie in Indianapolis, Robinson in San Antonio. It's like after Jordan retired in 99 along with the lockout, the league and its TV partners panicked and preferred large markets or nothing afterwards.

[scrabbarista]

Utah is responsible for the highest rated finals of all time

Probably the funniest use of the word "responsible" I've ever heard.

You underrate how far of a market Utah extends to. Boise and Spokane are massive.

There are probably nearly as many people in my Uber delivery range as there are in Idaho.

Slight exaggeration.

[Blame Rasho]

Probably the funniest use of the word "responsible" I've ever heard.

You underrate how far of a market Utah extends to. Boise and Spokane are massive.

There are probably nearly as many people in my Uber delivery range as there are in Idaho.

Slight exaggeration.

Forgot to mention Coeur d'Alene…

[jokeboy86]

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 even more extreme for baseball. I don't know if baseball has any casual TV viewing audience at all anymore. Baseball fans literally tune out entirely the second their team is out of playoff contention or eliminated.