NBA viewership down

[SkyHook]

It's an absolute mystery why viewership is down.

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[Snotbubbles]

This is objectively a great time to be an NBA fan. We got unprecedented levels of parity, multiple guys doing stuff we've never seen before, and yet some people are just absolutely miserable about it

I almost feel bad for them because they're too busy romanticizing a past that objectively speaking did not exist rather than appreciating the present

The problem isn't players taking too many 3s, the problem is you got older and don't have the simplistic worldview of a child.

This entire conversation drives me insane and I'm going to lose my mind if the league tries to implement rule changes to appease a small minority that somehow thinks the game was more entertaining when 80% of the league couldn't hit a shot outside of 15 feet.

I don't think style of play is as big a problem as you don't know what your getting on any given night. Like if you have Denver v. Philly. Great matchup between two of the best big men. Then you find out Embiid isn't playing. George is on load management. Murray is out with a hang-nail. All the excitement of a great matchup, right down the tubes. Even if the game ends up being close, nobody really cares about Jokic going head-to-head with Andre Drummond. This type of thing happens every night. When the regular season has no meaning for the organization and its players, how do you make it have meaning for the fans?

[djsunyc]

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NHL ratings are down more than the NBA. No pearl clutching and outrage?

I wonder why. The right wing blows up any decline in NBA ratings for political purposes.

MLB ratings are also down, despite a big world series because it was Dodgers v Yankees.

All ratings on TV in general are down. Nobody under 35 has cable anymore. Less people want to spend 2 hours watching live sports when people are spending their time on social media and Youtube.

NBA is moving towards streaming which is smart. But expecting a ratings decline to stop is stupid. NBA is still selling broadcast rights for a ton of money for a reason.

it's everything.

wwe wrestling - average rating for their flagship show monday night raw was getting 2 mil people 2 years ago, now it's down to 1.4-1.5. despite that, it's the hottest it's ever been making the most money it's ever been and signed a multi-billion dollar deal to air it live on netflix.

the ratings argument is now archaic. media is consumed completely different.

the nba fanbase and media are cannibalizing it's own sport - it's crazy.

[wco81]

NBA Christmas day ratings were great. The Lakers-Warriors game had as may as 7-8 million viewers, the highest in 5 years for any regular season game.

However, Netflix claims 65 million tuned in at least for awhile to the NFL games. Maybe casual or non football fans watched the Beyonce half time show.

Turns out that CBS loaned their production crews to produce the game broadcasts.

Kind of a dumb move, helping a potential future competitor in NFL TV rights, not to mention of course NF is absolutely taking viewers away from network TV content, including CBS shows.

[AmusingFiddle]

Viewership is down mainly due to the current younger generation having too many options. Many didn't grow up shooting hoops at their local community/rec center or parks. As such, they don't have passion/love for the game as most that grew up in the 80's/90's. Most of us old timers didn't have video games or social media. We played sports with other kids in the neighborhood. Hence, our liking for sports. IMHO the viewership will continue to decline domestically but grow internationally as its reach grows with streaming services like Netflix/Amazon.

[JustBuzzin]

Viewership is down mainly due to the current younger generation having too many options. Many didn't grow up shooting hoops at their local community/rec center or parks. As such, they don't have passion/love for the game as most that grew up in the 80's/90's. Most of us old timers didn't have video games or social media. We played sports with other kids in the neighborhood. Hence, our liking for sports. IMHO the viewership will continue to decline domestically but grow internationally as its reach grows with streaming services like Netflix/Amazon.

It's down because the game has changed. Stars are no longer playing all the games. Load management is a real thing and it hurts the game. Also there is no face of the league they still marketing old LeBron/Curry as the guys. They are on non contending teams.

Sure Jokic is the best player, but he's not really entertaining off the court. Same goes for Wemby.

Ant has personality, but he's not at the best player level yet.


Sadly the NBA is still in search for that next LeBron and I don't see any current player in the league who can match his popularity on and off the court. Maybe that player will arrive down the line.

[Haldi]

This is objectively a great time to be an NBA fan. We got unprecedented levels of parity, multiple guys doing stuff we've never seen before, and yet some people are just absolutely miserable about it

I almost feel bad for them because they're too busy romanticizing a past that objectively speaking did not exist rather than appreciating the present

The problem isn't players taking too many 3s, the problem is you got older and don't have the simplistic worldview of a child.

This entire conversation drives me insane and I'm going to lose my mind if the league tries to implement rule changes to appease a small minority that somehow thinks the game was more entertaining when 80% of the league couldn't hit a shot outside of 15 feet.

I completely agree with you. And what boggles my mind even more is that they cannot see it at all. Like how the f can you think that guards in the 70s, 80s and 90s that didn’t even have a left whatsoever, some of them were only average shooters from about 15 feet out but hey, they could make an entry pass… that those guys are better basketball players than guards playing today. And don’t even get me started on most big men back then. Yes, some were amazing, I’ll never down play Hakeem or a few of those guys, but the vast majority of big men back then were not great basketball players, they were just big and decently athletic enough that a high school coach was like “hey you’re really tall and don’t completely run like a baby giraffe, why don’t you play basketball?”. Nowadays, even if you’re a big man, you have to be insanely skilled (for the most part), and start training at a much earlier age to make the NBA.

How can you watch players back then and watch players today and the only thing you can come up with is, well the defense back then must’ve been much better, when in fact, even that was worse lol. I feel like most “hardcore fans” on here have never played any kind of serious basketball and really don’t know much about it but because they’ve watched a ton of games over 30+ years, they figure they know it well.

[DOT]

How can you watch players back then and watch players today and the only thing you can come up with is, well the defense back then must’ve been much better, when in fact, even that was worse lol. I feel like most “hardcore fans” on here have never played any kind of serious basketball and really don’t know much about it but because they’ve watched a ton of games over 30+ years, they figure they know it well.

I made a whole thread on here a year or so back talking about a game from the 93 Finals, cause it was available for free and I wanted to watch a full game from the 90s to see for myself

Multiple possessions you had the PG on defense having both feet in the paint as the PG on offense was bringing the ball up. Rather than start the possession from the 3pt line, the PG would take 1 or 2 steps in before starting the action. So many post ups by role players who should not have had the green light

It's not that defenses were so much better back then, it's that offenses were just way worse.

[LockoutSeason]

It's an absolute mystery why viewership is down.

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This was the highest rated game in 5 years.

[jbk1234]

NBA Christmas day ratings were great. The Lakers-Warriors game had as may as 7-8 million viewers, the highest in 5 years for any regular season game.

However, Netflix claims 65 million tuned in at least for awhile to the NFL games. Maybe casual or non football fans watched the Beyonce half time show.

Turns out that CBS loaned their production crews to produce the game broadcasts.

Kind of a dumb move, helping a potential future competitor in NFL TV rights, not to mention of course NF is absolutely taking viewers away from network TV content, including CBS shows.

And ESPN actually streamed their Christmas day games on Disney, which as far as I know, is the first and only time they've made NBA games available via streaming.

[SupaManu]

This argument about past vs current players is like apples to orange in some regards. I mean with all the specialized coaching and huge advancements in nutrition and training if u are going to make the comparison you have to assume that the older players will have access to all this which would make a big difference or the newer players only have access to what the older players had. I feel like these are significant and make a big difference.

[wco81]

Yeah they didn't play defense, rarely did they press in the back court or full court.

In fact when Pitino coached the Knicks -- was it the '90s? -- people questioned whether millionaire NBA players would work hard and pressed full court as Pitino wanted.

Remember the illegal defenses back in the day?

[MavsDirk41]

It's an absolute mystery why viewership is down.

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I didnt watch the game but i saw Reaves receive the inbounds pass and make the game winning layup. Is there a reason why James had nothing to do with that play?

[Braggins]

This argument about past vs current players is like apples to orange in some regards. I mean with all the specialized coaching and huge advancements in nutrition and training if u are going to make the comparison you have to assume that the older players will have access to all this which would make a big difference or the newer players only have access to what the older players had. I feel like these are significant and make a big difference.

I don't mean to disparage the older players. I grew up watching 90s basketball and appreciate the entire history of the league. Reggie Miller is still my all-time favorite player.

If the advancements in the game we see today were already established in previous eras, the players from those eras would have been taught to play the game similar to how its played now and would have focused on the skills that are focused on today. Like you said, if they had access to the same technology and knowledge of nutrition, they would have utilized it. Its not an insult to the previous eras and their players to say the game has advanced today.

[Haldi]

This argument about past vs current players is like apples to orange in some regards. I mean with all the specialized coaching and huge advancements in nutrition and training if u are going to make the comparison you have to assume that the older players will have access to all this which would make a big difference or the newer players only have access to what the older players had. I feel like these are significant and make a big difference.

No, that’s the whole point of this argument lol. We are saying players today are way more skilled than players back then BECAUSE of better/way more training and a lot because of how much we learn from the players that came before. And you say, well if my guy back then wasn’t at all the player he was and i transform into a way better player through heightened training and so on, he would be just as good. I mean, sounds a lot to me like you’re agreeing that players today are better at the sport of basketball than players back then.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, player comparison is just that. We compare them on how they were. We know EXACTLY what player a, b, c, d, and e could do back then and we know exactly what the ones today can do. We know EXACTLY where they could shoot from, how good they were from each spot, off the dribble, off the catch, going left, going right, how far a defender needed to be for it to be considered a good look, left and right hand dribbling, right and LEFT hand finishing (this one would blow your minds if anyone here did the slightest research) and so on. I always hear people on here say the only thing today’s players are better at is shooting. What? Lol. They’re better at everything except maybe post up player because turning your back to the goal you’re trying to score in might just not be the smartest way to go about it, who’d a thunk it.

Sure we can take any player from back then and give them Currys shooting and Kyrie’s handles and left hand and a euro step and so on, but then you’re not even talking about the same player anymore, you’re talking about some completely made up version of him.

[LockoutSeason]

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[SupaManu]

This argument about past vs current players is like apples to orange in some regards. I mean with all the specialized coaching and huge advancements in nutrition and training if u are going to make the comparison you have to assume that the older players will have access to all this which would make a big difference or the newer players only have access to what the older players had. I feel like these are significant and make a big difference.

No, that’s the whole point of this argument lol. We are saying players today are way more skilled than players back then BECAUSE of better/way more training and a lot because of how much we learn from the players that came before. And you say, well if my guy back then wasn’t at all the player he was and i transform into a way better player through heightened training and so on, he would be just as good. I mean, sounds a lot to me like you’re agreeing that players today are better at the sport of basketball than players back then.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, player comparison is just that. We compare them on how they were. We know EXACTLY what player a, b, c, d, and e could do back then and we know exactly what the ones today can do. We know EXACTLY where they could shoot from, how good they were from each spot, off the dribble, off the catch, going left, going right, how far a defender needed to be for it to be considered a good look, left and right hand dribbling, right and LEFT hand finishing (this one would blow your minds if anyone here did the slightest research) and so on. I always hear people on here say the only thing today’s players are better at is shooting. What? Lol. They’re better at everything except maybe post up player because turning your back to the goal you’re trying to score in might just not be the smartest way to go about it, who’d a thunk it.

Sure we can take any player from back then and give them Currys shooting and Kyrie’s handles and left hand and a euro step and so on, but then you’re not even talking about the same player anymore, you’re talking about some completely made up version of him.

It's definitely an interesting discussion as players then and now focus their training and skills on what worked/works best in the current state of basketball. I think someone like jordan and athletic freaks like david robinson would adapt fine and be just as good in this era even as is without the advancements, just like i think someone like lebron would be good back in the 90's. I think some older players would definitely struggle more now a days due to lack of shooting and specific skills tailored to today's game. But i also think some of todays players would struggle more back then. Their skills such as shooting would definitely be better than their peers overall, but with the lack of a million moving/illegal screens, freedom of movement and soft whistles they might not be able to get to the basket as easy and also while their shooting would translate, they might have a more difficult time getting off the amount of clean looks they do today because of the previous differences in the game.

[xchange55]

Thanks for the laugh

Let me guess, you don't hoop. You're a fantasy sports and 2K player.

Errr, wrong.

You don't win 4 championships by being a stat padding player that any "objective coach should bench"

Right you win it by joining super teams with clutch All NBA type players who make the big plays. I mean Robert Horry has plenty of rings.

[CallMeKahn]

Kind of a dumb move, helping a potential future competitor in NFL TV rights, not to mention of course NF is absolutely taking viewers away from network TV content, including CBS shows.

Given those concerns are still a decade away, there's nothing wrong with some extra capital when you need it.

[wco81]

Kind of a dumb move, helping a potential future competitor in NFL TV rights, not to mention of course NF is absolutely taking viewers away from network TV content, including CBS shows.

Given those concerns are still a decade away, there's nothing wrong with some extra capital when you need it.

NFL can opt out after the 2028 season. Otherwise, the deal runs through the 2033 season.

The NFL can opt out of its current deal with all of its media partners — except Disney
, which has a slightly different deal structure — after the 2028-29 season. By that time, driven by the pace of change among the largest media companies, the entire landscape could be significantly different than it is today, dramatically altering how much revenue leagues generate and who is paying.

“Anyone telling you with any degree of certainty the NFL is going to opt out or not is bananas,” said Daniel Cohen, executive vice president of global media rights consulting at Octagon. “There’s so much you can’t predict even two years out, never mind six.”

The NFL’s opt-out decision, while years away, is the next potential tectonic shift that will influence the balance of power in media. It’s possible the NFL could choose to end deals with longtime Sunday afternoon media providers such as Fox
and Paramount Global’s CBS in favor of streamers, such as Apple.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/04/nfl-media-rights-media-landscape.html