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https://www.apnews.com/593ea2688d094465bba07710edb6836f/NBA-Finals-ratings-highest-since-Jordan's-last-title-in-1998

The NBA has received criticism from some circles for the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers meeting in The Finals for the third straight time, but television ratings have been excellent after the first two games of the series.

This year's Finals are the most-watched since Michael Jordan's final championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1998.

The two wins for the Warriors have averaged 19.6 million viewers, which is a five percent increase from 18.6 million in 2016.

Sunday's game drew an average of 20.1 million viewers, up 13 percent from Game 2 last year and the most for a Game 2 since Chicago and Utah met in 1998. The telecast peaked with 23.1 million viewers.

lol @ whining people here saying 'BORING' 'NBA SUCKS' blah blah blah

How about "If you don't like it, don't watch it."??

well if warriors sweep cavs. then thats issue. but this the series everyone waited for. i think people talking about competitiveness was about the other rounds. 7 all stars. lebron vs curry and durant. i would shocked this series wasnt a draw for folks

DIO wrote:
lol @ whining people here saying 'BORING' 'NBA SUCKS' blah blah blah

How about "If you don't like it, don't watch it."??

you have to realize vocal minority doesn't represent the overwhelming majority of people.

and it's not just for the Finals, but the playoffs overall where viewership has increased

Viewership for the 2017 NBA Playoffs on ESPN and ABC is up five percent from last year. So far, the average viewership this season is at 4.376 million as compared to 4.176 million.

As for streaming, ESPN says the online audience has set a record for average minute streaming. On WatchESPN, the games drew an average of 112,000 viewers and that’s up 24% from last season.

And this postseason gave ABC its most-watched opening weekend game, Game 1 of the Golden State Warriors-Portland Trail Blazers series that had a combined TV and streaming audience of 6.6 million viewers.

In addition, this is ESPN’s most-streamed NBA Playoffs opening weekend with an average minute audience of 91,800 viewers.

TNT’s ratings has also seen an uptick thanks to the playoffs and its numbers have won primetime in cable.

mvpshaq32 wrote:

DIO wrote:
lol @ whining people here saying 'BORING' 'NBA SUCKS' blah blah blah

How about "If you don't like it, don't watch it."??

you have to realize vocal minority doesn't represent the overwhelming majority of people.

and it's not just for the Finals, but the playoffs overall where viewership has increased

Read on Twitter

Viewership for the 2017 NBA Playoffs on ESPN and ABC is up five percent from last year. So far, the average viewership this season is at 4.376 million as compared to 4.176 million.

As for streaming, ESPN says the online audience has set a record for average minute streaming. On WatchESPN, the games drew an average of 112,000 viewers and that’s up 24% from last season.

And this postseason gave ABC its most-watched opening weekend game, Game 1 of the Golden State Warriors-Portland Trail Blazers series that had a combined TV and streaming audience of 6.6 million viewers.

In addition, this is ESPN’s most-streamed NBA Playoffs opening weekend with an average minute audience of 91,800 viewers.

TNT’s ratings has also seen an uptick thanks to the playoffs and its numbers have won primetime in cable.

even though it's a star driven league, most fans still love great team ball and right now the warriors provide that with the assistance of one of the greatest lakers ever of course.

Well, I am turning off the games due to disinterest and that's the whole reason why I'm frustrated but who am I to blow against the wind? I am convinced. This is some great, gripping basketball and I feel blessed to have witnessed a whole quarter and a half of it.

I wonder what it's like for Steve Kerr where a team he is coaching now is constantly being compared to a team he was a part of back then.

The NBA doesn't give a flying **** about those keyboard warriors yelling about boring games who can't even afford cable and illegally stream games in their parents' basement.

They say no one watches these games and the facts just come hard on their face.

The world goes on without you.

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NBA finals is like Wonderwoman.

Not very much depth in story and predictable but who cares.

Lots of fire power while the star is appealing to general audience.

But most purist wants to watch Good Will Hunting and I get that.

Tell me more about how these super teams are bad for the league.

Live sports is one of the only things left that can draw a lot of viewers on television.

ABC must be giddy with these ratings.

Hello Brooklyn wrote:Live sports is one of the only things left that can draw a lot of viewers on television.

ABC must be giddy with these ratings.

TNT crushed it with the playoff ratings and now ABC is crushing it with the finals ratings. Yup Im sure everyone involved with the NBA are giddy with the ratings for the past month.

76ciology wrote:NBA finals is like Wonderwoman.

Not very much depth in story and predictable but who cares.

Lots of fire power while the star is appealing to general audience.

But most purist wants to watch Good Will Hunting and I get that.

This is actually a pretty dead on comparison. The majority of hardcore movie buffs love the indie dramas and laugh at how dumb big blockbusters are, but big blockbusters are the movies that bring in the casual movie audience and many times turns casual movie fans into hardcore movie fans.

The problem isnt the ratings in this Finals series. This was their cash cow after a abysmal playoffs. Whats going to happen is the interest and the ratings after this 'Part3' ratings fest is over and they struggle to sell any sort of narrative for next season during the regular season to keep interest.

I honestly think it does well now--but they mortgaged the future interest to achieve short term gain.

Here is the proof:

NBA television viewership took a dive during the 2016-17 season, according to an analysis by Sports Business Journal.The SBJ analysis, which looked at local ratings for 27 of the 30 NBA teams, found a 14 percent drop from the previous year. Twenty regional sports networks reportedly saw their ratings decline, including 15 that experienced double-digit decreases. National television ratings were also down in 2016-17, suggesting a broader trend in NBA viewership. NBA game ratings on regional sports networks were down 15 percent in total.

The NBA’s steepest drops are in Dallas and Orlando. The Mavericks’ ratings average has fallen 53 percent so far during a season in which the team has stayed well below the .500 mark. The Magic’s local game ratings are down 50 percent as the team has crawled to the second worst record in the Eastern Conference. Even the normally reliable Spurs ratings registered a 43 percent drop so far this season.

The numbers have in most cases fallen back to 2008 levels, and the league is even further back of the college game. For a league in fairly obvious decline, it is doing about as well as possible. ABCs regular season ratings are at an all time low in 2016-2017 down 17% since the 2015 season and have dipped below their second worst rating season in 2006-2007

The majority of people are idiots. Nothing new here

LivingLegend wrote:The problem isnt the ratings in this Finals series. This was their cash cow after a abysmal playoffs. Whats going to happen is the interest and the ratings after this 'Part3' ratings fest is over and they struggle to sell any sort of narrative for next season during the regular season to keep interest.

I honestly think it does well now--but they mortgaged the future interest to achieve short term gain.

Here is the proof:

NBA television viewership took a dive during the 2016-17 season, according to an analysis by Sports Business Journal.The SBJ analysis, which looked at local ratings for 27 of the 30 NBA teams, found a 14 percent drop from the previous year. Twenty regional sports networks reportedly saw their ratings decline, including 15 that experienced double-digit decreases. National television ratings were also down in 2016-17, suggesting a broader trend in NBA viewership. NBA game ratings on regional sports networks were down 15 percent in total.

The NBA’s steepest drops are in Dallas and Orlando. The Mavericks’ ratings average has fallen 53 percent so far during a season in which the team has stayed well below the .500 mark. The Magic’s local game ratings are down 50 percent as the team has crawled to the second worst record in the Eastern Conference. Even the normally reliable Spurs ratings registered a 43 percent drop so far this season.

The numbers have in most cases fallen back to 2008 levels, and the league is even further back of the college game. For a league in fairly obvious decline, it is doing about as well as possible.

except the playoffs also had increassed viewership from last year reported by TNT, ESPN, ABC

but muh superteams are ruing the league

mvpshaq32 wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:The problem isnt the ratings in this Finals series. This was their cash cow after a abysmal playoffs. Whats going to happen is the interest and the ratings after this 'Part3' ratings fest is over and they struggle to sell any sort of narrative for next season during the regular season to keep interest.

I honestly think it does well now--but they mortgaged the future interest to achieve short term gain.

Here is the proof:

NBA television viewership took a dive during the 2016-17 season, according to an analysis by Sports Business Journal.The SBJ analysis, which looked at local ratings for 27 of the 30 NBA teams, found a 14 percent drop from the previous year. Twenty regional sports networks reportedly saw their ratings decline, including 15 that experienced double-digit decreases. National television ratings were also down in 2016-17, suggesting a broader trend in NBA viewership. NBA game ratings on regional sports networks were down 15 percent in total.

The NBA’s steepest drops are in Dallas and Orlando. The Mavericks’ ratings average has fallen 53 percent so far during a season in which the team has stayed well below the .500 mark. The Magic’s local game ratings are down 50 percent as the team has crawled to the second worst record in the Eastern Conference. Even the normally reliable Spurs ratings registered a 43 percent drop so far this season.

The numbers have in most cases fallen back to 2008 levels, and the league is even further back of the college game. For a league in fairly obvious decline, it is doing about as well as possible.

except the playoffs also had increassed viewership from last year reported by TNT, ESPN, ABC

Like I said in my post-- its playoffs only and ABC just experienced its all time worst NBA TV ratings this regular season and its the RS, not the playoffs that are going to hurt the most. The NBA regular season ratings are in the cellar right now. Worst since the early 2000s.

How do you convince middling teams like the Suns/Pistons fans to watch games, spend money and buy merch during the first 6 months of the regular season knowing its useless.

likashing wrote:The NBA doesn't give a flying **** about those keyboard warriors yelling about boring games who can't even afford cable and illegally stream games in their parents' basement.

Lmao #SoSavage

LivingLegend wrote:The problem isnt the ratings in this Finals series. This was their cash cow after a abysmal playoffs. Whats going to happen is the interest and the ratings after this 'Part3' ratings fest is over and they struggle to sell any sort of narrative for next season during the regular season to keep interest.

I honestly think it does well now--but they mortgaged the future interest to achieve short term gain.

Here is the proof:

NBA television viewership took a dive during the 2016-17 season, according to an analysis by Sports Business Journal.The SBJ analysis, which looked at local ratings for 27 of the 30 NBA teams, found a 14 percent drop from the previous year. Twenty regional sports networks reportedly saw their ratings decline, including 15 that experienced double-digit decreases. National television ratings were also down in 2016-17, suggesting a broader trend in NBA viewership. NBA game ratings on regional sports networks were down 15 percent in total.

The NBA’s steepest drops are in Dallas and Orlando. The Mavericks’ ratings average has fallen 53 percent so far during a season in which the team has stayed well below the .500 mark. The Magic’s local game ratings are down 50 percent as the team has crawled to the second worst record in the Eastern Conference. Even the normally reliable Spurs ratings registered a 43 percent drop so far this season.

The numbers have in most cases fallen back to 2008 levels, and the league is even further back of the college game. For a league in fairly obvious decline, it is doing about as well as possible. ABCs regular season ratings are at an all time low in 2016-2017 down 17% since the 2015 season and have dipped below their second worst rating season in 2006-2007

You can say the Playoffs were "abysmal" but in reality the ratings were up for the entire Playoffs.

Second of all the regular season was down, but it was down across all sports. Including the NFL.

Seems to be a problem of people watching less regular season games due to lack of time or a variety of other factors. People aren't watching as many regular season games in general.

In reality the NBA makes more money during the palyoffs than the entire regular season combined. Before then people are more focused on the NFL and March Madness. May/June is when the NBA is king.

As far as the "narrative" for next season, people are going to want to watch the Warriors again.

When the Lakers almost swept their way through the whole Playoffs, I don't remember the ratings declining for the next year. In fact they went up.

There will always be narratives to play. People are not going to lose interest in the NBA because there is one dominant team. Thats complete nonsense.

People lose interest in the NBA when there is more "parity" and the NBA Finals ends up being the Pistons vs the Spurs.

Nobody wants to watch that.

The first 4 games nhl stantly cup playoffs added together don't match game 1 of NBA finals ratings. Enough said