NBA viewership down

[eyriq]

Pimping a losing team like the Spurs is sick work.

[Triple M]

What about social media engagement?

[NBA4Lyfe]

People I used to watch basketball with said that the Bronny James drama and the obvious klutch sports partnership with the sports networks has completely turned them off the league

You have no idea how many people who are longtime watchers of the nba are sick of the LeBron era. And then you turn on espn and fs1 and all they do is attach LeBron to an obvious more universally liked athlete like Messi or Mahomes.

[moderndarwin]

Yet franchise values keep going up.

Do people really not get that pure tv viewership numbers mean very little. theres millions of people watching nba around the globe and we dont bring that data in at all.

[NBA4Lyfe]

I mean... The product hasn't been entertaining recently...

It's better than the last couple of years imo

Meh I don’t see a difference

[AbC?]

The NBA has never been more popular and the game has never been better from a talent and skill perspective.

The old days weren't better, you were just younger and less jaded.

[dhsilv2]

3 of those guys are still in the league. Jokic and Giannis are both 2x MVP's. And...Luka looks to be another all time great. We might have more all time greats still playing than ever before.

Oh and there's that Wemby guy...he might be good.

It's an American audience though and none of those guys are American.

As an American who talks basketball with other Americans. I'm not sure my friend circle could have some bias...skewing higher income...more educated and what not. But I've never even once heard anyone care where someone was born. If anything there might be a bit of novelty and maybe even a touch of racial reasons people might like seeing some of these white guys over another american of color. Though I don't get much of that impression either.

Bottom line, I"m sure some Americans care, but I don't think the average one does. The best baseball player...the most american of sports...has their best player being from Japan and I don't think anyone cares there either.

But yeah I"m sure there are some people like Racist A Smith out there who care....but they're a loud minority.

[Jadoogar]

People I used to watch basketball with said that the Bronny James drama and the obvious klutch sports partnership with the sports networks has completely turned them off the league

You have no idea how many people who are longtime watchers of the nba are sick of the LeBron era. And then you turn on espn and fs1 and all they do is attach LeBron to an obvious more universally liked athlete like Messi or Mahomes.

a second round pick that likely won't play turned them off the league?
I get it that the drafting was problematic, but it's so low stakes. Most 55th picks never end up playing a single game.

[Edrees]

As always with these threads, the question "are streaming numbers included" has to be asked in a world where streaming increases every year.

[Infinite Llamas]

People I used to watch basketball with said that the Bronny James drama and the obvious klutch sports partnership with the sports networks has completely turned them off the league

You have no idea how many people who are longtime watchers of the nba are sick of the LeBron era. And then you turn on espn and fs1 and all they do is attach LeBron to an obvious more universally liked athlete like Messi or Mahomes.

Mahomes is universally liked? I don’t know anybody who likes or cares about him lol

[Sixers in 4]

People I used to watch basketball with said that the Bronny James drama and the obvious klutch sports partnership with the sports networks has completely turned them off the league

You have no idea how many people who are longtime watchers of the nba are sick of the LeBron era. And then you turn on espn and fs1 and all they do is attach LeBron to an obvious more universally liked athlete like Messi or Mahomes.

Mahomes is universally liked? I don’t know anybody who likes or cares about him lol

He must be judging by the amount of commercials he does. Lamar Jackson barely gets any despite winning two MVP's and being the best player in football right now.

I have a theory on that but don't want to get political so I won't post it but as a raven fan it's annoying.

[ChiTownHero1992]

A) local black outs suck - no access at all to Bulls games without paying a ridiculous amount not worth it
B) the network wars suck
C) the product is sub-par

I've watched about 1 Quarter of 3 seperate games all of which i became entirely too bored with very early on and immediately switched to MLB, NFL, NCAAF or some other sport

[advent11]

Fans are waiting for the IST to start.

[advent11]

People I used to watch basketball with said that the Bronny James drama and the obvious klutch sports partnership with the sports networks has completely turned them off the league

You have no idea how many people who are longtime watchers of the nba are sick of the LeBron era. And then you turn on espn and fs1 and all they do is attach LeBron to an obvious more universally liked athlete like Messi or Mahomes.

Mahomes is universally liked? I don’t know anybody who likes or cares about him lol

He must be judging by the amount of commercials he does. Lamar Jackson barely gets any despite winning two MVP's and being the best player in football right now.

I have a theory on that but don't want to get political so I won't post it but as a raven fan it's annoying.

It's about rings with quarterbacks.

[bkkrh]

Read on Twitter

https://awfulannouncing.com/nba/opening-night-ratings-first-week-fell.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Aside from opening night:

Read on Twitter

I mean it's a small sample size, but Wemby was viewed as the next big thing, so I don't find it surprising that a lot of viewers with a general interest for Basketball would watch his first game. Bucks vs 76ers, it was clear Embiid won't play. Suns vs Clippers, Clippers lost 1 star, the other one is injured. Spurs vs Mavericks means good team vs bad team. Pacers vs Knicks, don't think many people still care about the 90s rivalry, so it's more or less a team that is supposed to place high in the East against a team that is supposed to get a low playoff seed.

So besides the double header I don't find it really surprising that the numbers for the other games were low. For the double header it would also be interesting how things were split up. Can imagine that a lot of fans didn't watch the Lakers - Twolves game on purpose, either related to the Bronny situation, or because on paper it was a team that didn't make the play in last year against a contender that normally also doesn't have a big fanbase. It's a game I'd also just check the boxscore and not a must watch game.

[flranger]

Two things for me leading to an uninteresting start to the season:
* Relative lack of player movement drama during the offseason among star players keeping NBA out of the discussion
* Olympic hangover, no real break from basketball and don't miss it

I also agree the baseball matchups are very strong, thus hurting viewership

[evilpimp972]

The NBA has never been more popular and the game has never been better from a talent and skill perspective.

The old days weren't better, you were just younger and less jaded.

Lol
Surely this trend applies to football right?
eHHH

[Ssj16]

The NBA has never been more popular and the game has never been better from a talent and skill perspective.

The old days weren't better, you were just younger and less jaded.

Exactly this. I'm in a UFC forum and every couple of months there are threads titled "UFC is dying" or "Do you find the UFC boring" yet the brand keeps growing globally and the value of the company sold for 4 billion.

I feel it's the same with the NBA fans pining for the "good ole days".

[HotelVitale]

The NBA has never been more popular and the game has never been better from a talent and skill perspective.

The old days weren't better, you were just younger and less jaded.

I do think this is a lower general interest era than normal, no big narratives around that reach the general public. The Lebron-Steph era was probably more popular overall.

But also feels like real ball fans like us who watch dozens of games each month--and not just a few PO games and some national TV tilts here and there--should like a less predictable and more open field. I'm good with either cuz I like basketball.

[Nate505]

I don't know why. It's real exciting stuff. 3 pointer, 3 pointer, layup, 3 pointer, free throw x2, 3 pointer, layup, layup, free throw x2,, dunk, 3 pointer, 3 pointer, free throw x2, dunk, free throw x2, 3 pointer, 3 pointer, and 3 pointer.