Game 1 of the Finals posts horrific TV ratings

[xBulletproof]

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I do have a question though, why are we excluding the Covid years? I mean, people couldn't do anything else but watch TV. Those should have been the most watched, honestly.

[Capn'O]

The media sold it as a bad finals. Game 1 was great though. Hopefully they stop doing that.


Also, how would Haliburton have saved it? It was literally the last shot

[Anticon]

NBA and ESPN promoted Bronny more than either of these teams. So you reap what you sow.

[DaPessimist]

TV deal is locked in for 10 years already, and I don't care how much the league makes on the next TV deal.

[Chuck Everett]

NBA and ESPN promoted Bronny more than either of these teams. So you reap what you sow.

[bbms]

As I'm not a stakeholder of the NBA, I'll take a game winner over a few more million eye balls watching the series.

nba stakeholders don't give a damn, their contracts are locked up for ten years.
only broadcaster stakeholders give a damn

[Ssj16]

This will be a very unpopular take for many posters here, but I think the NBA shot itself in the foot badly getting as political as it did during the covid years, and it might never recover from that.

I don't think this take makes any sense. There has been a direct correlation to smaller markets in the finals or a finals that lacks "star power" and low ratings before and after those events. No need to make this political.

As some posters have said, this has to do with the toxic culture of NBA media and the NBA's inability to properly promote any team not names the Lakers, Boston, NYC, GS or teams that don't have Lebron or Steph.

[Bornstellar]

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

[levon]

NBA and ESPN promoted Bronny more than either of these teams. So you reap what you sow.

Honestly this isn't true. They've been promoting the **** out of this on ESPN daytime shows this whole week. They had like a 4 hours Finals special day of too. I think you guys keep saying the same old tired stuff to farm and-1s instead of just admitting that market size matters for viewership.

[SOdisciple]

Expect change coming then...(i.e no more successful small market teams)

[Marvin Martian]

This will be a very unpopular take for many posters here, but I think the NBA shot itself in the foot badly getting as political as it did during the covid years, and it might never recover from that.

The people who were bothered by the NBA's politics, were MAGA conservatives. They don't watch the NBA to begin with and would love to see the NBA crumble anyway due to their ties with China.

[Anticon]

NBA and ESPN promoted Bronny more than either of these teams. So you reap what you sow.

Honestly this isn't true. They've been promoting the **** out of this on ESPN daytime shows this whole week. They had like a 4 hours Finals special day of too. I think you guys keep saying the same old tired stuff to farm and-1s instead of just admitting that market size matters for viewership.

Of course it matters. But you can't just promote a brand the day of an event and expect people to know or care about.

ESPN simply never promotes the product that is the NBA and now they'll pay for it.

[levon]

NBA and ESPN promoted Bronny more than either of these teams. So you reap what you sow.

Honestly this isn't true. They've been promoting the **** out of this on ESPN daytime shows this whole week. They had like a 4 hours Finals special day of too. I think you guys keep saying the same old tired stuff to farm and-1s instead of just admitting that market size matters for viewership.

Of course it matters. But you can't just promote a brand the day of an event and expect people to know or care about.

ESPN simply never promotes the product that is the NBA and now they'll pay for it.

Do you have evidence that ESPN never promotes the product? Again, they've promoted these Finals a lot. Silver's been on a media tour defending the matchup too against naysayers.

[og15]

Honestly this isn't true. They've been promoting the **** out of this on ESPN daytime shows this whole week. They had like a 4 hours Finals special day of too. I think you guys keep saying the same old tired stuff to farm and-1s instead of just admitting that market size matters for viewership.

Of course it matters. But you can't just promote a brand the day of an event and expect people to know or care about.

ESPN simply never promotes the product that is the NBA and now they'll pay for it.

Do you have evidence that ESPN never promotes the product? Again, they've promoted these Finals a lot. Silver's been on a media tour defending the matchup too against naysayers.

I have been hearing ads for the NBA playoffs and then the NBA finals on the local Detroit Metro area radio station that my co-workers play at work for the past month, so it's even on there.

I agree that of course it is naive to suggest they don't promote the NBA finals, and it is even more naive to think that Silver of the NBA would not be promoting every single matchup or finals they have and be defending it everywhere. It's like people think all these people are just so dumb about the most basic things (yet in the same breath, some people claim these are the masterminds who can rig so many things without anyone finding out).

Now, if one feels they aren't marketing it as they would like, or enough, okay, but of course they are marketing it, lol, that's just basic.

[durden_tyler]

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

This. Someone get us those streaming numbers.


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[djsunyc]

inside the nba and former players keep bringing up the negatives - which made a dent. for a mainly black league, it's so stupid to not spin the positive considering everything.

[zimpy27]

I think it's the fault of the NBA and the media if casual fans aren't as interested in the high level basketball being played.

They need to do a better job highlighting these young players, one's the MVP and one has had the most clutch playoffs ever.

[Yank3525]

inside the nba and former players keep bringing up the negatives - which made a dent. for a mainly black league, it's so stupid to not spin the positive considering everything.

Nah, this isn't it.

Inside the NBA has pretty much been doing the same schtick for 25 years. Barkley has always complained about the state of the league and the players.

[jbk1234]

Also that graphic from the same article makes the writing style of it really look silly:



Kinda giving the impression that people mostly care to watch a good game and start to watch if they realize it's the case.

Agreed, people expected the Thunder to blow the Pacers out 4 games in a row. That's how it was covered. Those were the Vegas odds. Let's see how the ratings go in Game 2.

[whatisacenter]

Spoiler:

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I do have a question though, why are we excluding the Covid years? I mean, people couldn't do anything else but watch TV. Those should have been the most watched, honestly.

I am a basketball junkie and have watched every NBA finals since '85 except the bubble...