Game 1 of the Finals posts horrific TV ratings

[MavsDirk41]

Who cares it was a good game with a game winner

[MrGoat]

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

[xdrta+]

Ratings will rise if the games stay competitive.

[Woodsanity]

I think a lot of people will tune in for game 2.

[Zeno]

I don’t care about the rating and neither should the nba given they are locked into a very long-term deal. Even though the ratings are down, these teams getting exposure now will increase ratings for these teams on national games next season. This is called investment.

[mattg]

This is actually a pretty big problem for the NBA. From my perspective, I think that the Finals have been horribly advertised. From talking heads **** on it, to the NBA not pushing it effectively, the League's reliance on big markets for viewership is not ideal.

For as much as Adam Silver has been enormously successful in marketing individual players and grow the NBA's brand in that regard he's been an absolute abject failure when it comes to marketing NBA teams/franchises. The media he has the league partner with openly craps on 80%+ of franchises regularly, intentionally chooses to not cover those teams the entire rest of the time they aren't being crapped on unless there is no choice. And people are surprised when fans don't watch games? The NBA is basically directly telling it's own fans it's not worth watching their product the vast majority of the time.

I will say unrelated to that though, OKC is a horrific basketball watch entertainment wise. Market size irrelevant, that team is BAD for the NBA. Awful to watch on both ends. Their hack, push, tackle, grab, hold, and flop strategy defensively is literally all the worst aspects of 1990s basketball the NBA worked so hard to remove from the game (and objectively fundamentally BAD defense they just aren't called for fouls that they should be). And offensively they are an absolute bore spamming illegal screens so SGA can get a step and then jump into a scrambling defender. They can't score at all unless they are getting run outs off turnovers. None of their players play an exciting style. Just absolutely a dogcrap watch all the way around and horrific for marketing an exciting basketball game.

[SOA]

Good product and profit doesn't always coincide.

That is why every movie nowadays is a damn superhero and friends movie because generally they make money. But they effin suck.

The Pacers are high quality to watch but no one cares. The NBA is a business first and foremost.

[Yank3525]

Not surprising with a Game 1 with two younger, small market teams that don't have an established media presence quite yet.

But I definitely do agree with Silver that it's really high time for the league and its media culture to evolve past this stupid and self-defeating fixation on market sizes. The product, in theory, should be able to transcend that like it does in other sports and for far too long the NBA and its fans have internalized this mindset that it's all that matters.

It'll definitely take some time since we still have the toxic douchers at ESPN rattling on about market sizes, but hopefully a series like this can eventually be a step towards that path.

Some of this is on Silver. No one told him to re-up with ESPN (which is 99% of the problem). They don't cover the league outside of Bron, who has never had MJ's ability to draw outsiders who don't normally watch the sport. If He wants to fix this then he needs to pull a Goodell and start forcing change at ESPN. From the presentation, to the commentators, the halftime show. It is all just very cheap and bland.

[The Corey's]

NBA has had declining ratings for years.

But this is what happens when you sell your soul to put the players above the game.

You built your league on superstars and not the team game and you get what you get.

It's only going to get worse because fans are tired of the product and the superstar calls apparently as much as they don't care about watching two small market teams.

[og15]

Oh no! Random people didn't watch a very good game, I'm so sad

[notagenius]

Why do people care about ratings so much?

Are we getting $ back if ratings go up?

Do they lower ticket prices?

No? Then who cares.

Sent from my SM-S918W using RealGM mobile app

[Cactus Jack]

I'm really curious how the ratings would look in a market like Seattle.

You have two common groups here: Fans who either choose not to watch or don't have any interest whatsoever & fans who still actively hate-watch.

I personally have no interest in watching that team. So, I am actively boycotting this series. But I know that I'm not alone.

Yes, there still are fans of the NBA up this way. But some of us choose when & when not to watch.

[cocktailswith_2short]

Best finals game in years ....nobody watched it . Checks out with bizarro world we live in .

[ITYSL]

NBA Illuminati has done a stellar job of throwing us all off the scent of the Mavs getting the #1 pick and Adam Silver being a child blood-sucking vampire.

[cocktailswith_2short]

NBA Illuminati has done a stellar job of throwing us all off the scent of the Mavs getting the #1 pick and Adam Silver being a child blood-sucking vampire.

Nobody is thrown off any scent we're still all well aware.

[Ugly0598]

NBA Illuminati has done a stellar job of throwing us all off the scent of the Mavs getting the #1 pick and Adam Silver being a child blood-sucking vampire.

Truth.

[Wingy]

If the league would just promote Lebron, Steph, and KD more, this wouldn’t even be an issue. Just can’t understand why they won’t listen to me on this one.

[Infinite Llamas]

Silver is a coward for not standing up to espn and espn is stupid for paying crazy money only to have their moron on air “talent” constantly belittling anything that isn’t 3-4 teams/players. If Silver had a spine, he would have put a stop to this years ago and set those bozos straight.

I’m 100% convinced that idiots Stephen A and Perkins are the worse thing to ever happen to the NBA.

[Infinite Llamas]

Breen/Doris/RJ have been doing this gig for a year now and they sound like they just met each other 10 minutes before the game. Zero chemistry.

JVG and Mark Jackson look like HOF broadcasters in retrospect lol

[The Servant]

The NBA can thank the media for this. Never seen a media as toxic as the NBA regarding teams playing. Its a joke.