Game 1 of the Finals posts horrific TV ratings

[Mamba81p]

NBA has a tv deal for the next 11 seasons, and according to Jon skipper ratings do not come up when deals are negotiated.
The ad rates are not affected this year since they are negotiated beforehand, maybe they will be affected next year? Who cares.
The league is in great shape and this number is irrelevant for the league

[Mamba81p]

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals was really low for no real good reason too so it might not be what you think.

The reason is that it was on tnt, just like in 2023. The reason it’s obvious when you compare 2023 with 2022 and 2024 ratings.

[Eric Millegan]

It doesn’t matter. NBC, ESPN, and Amazon already paid over $70 billion for TV rights. These ratings could affect the next contract a few years from now but probably not. And obviously, the ratings will rise for this year’s Finals as audiences realize it’s going to be a competitive series.

[Lalouie]

Read on Twitter

this is the dumbest tweet header ever.

OF COURSE haliburton's heroics wouldn't be enough to save game1. it came at the last second of the game

[Lalouie]

It doesn’t matter. NBC, ESPN, and Amazon already paid over $70 billion for TV rights. These ratings could affect the next contract a few years from now but probably not. And obviously, the ratings will rise for this year’s Finals as audiences realize it’s going to be a competitive series.

well, now they know what it feels like to be an nba owner

[Message Boar]

[UcanUwill]

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.

I was thinking same thing. I do not watch that American NBA media stuff, not sure how bad they are, tho I have suspicion knowing ESPN garbage, but I want to believe people aren't that influenced by these asinine ESPN talking heads and the problem was how much of favorite OKC was perceived as.

[Edrees]

and people think the NBA is rigged

[MoneyTalks41890]

Will someone please think of the advertisers

[nomansland]

Help me understand why people care about the TV ratings. Serious question.

[ball_takes23]

I know people mock because we are all watching. But this stuff matters. TV money subsidizes the game and the stakeholders aren't going to like taking a lot less which means they will pass the costs on to us whether it be increased ticket pricing or a streaming service you are paying for.

We should want high ratings so that TV and advertisers are paying the costs, not us.

you really think the billionaire owners are gonna share the increased profits with me and you. good one

[JayMKE]

OKC and Indy are two of the smallest media markets in pro sports and don’t have any established national media stars to sell the series to casuals. Parity doesn’t necessarily mean bigger ratings in of itself, it’s not like the NFL where small market teams have some of the largest national followings.

Can’t do anything about that, just have a competitive series and people will take notice

[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.

Yeah this isn't due to lack of promotion. When the NFL season is over, ESPN talks about nothing except the NBA. Everyone who is within ear shot of ESPN on a TV screen knew about the Finals. It's just a bad matchup that casuals aren't going to want to watch, and I think both the NBA and ESPN know it (possibly why they have half assed the production).

The NBA spent years building around stars. They trained fans to root for the back of the jersey rather than the front of it. So in the absence of a big market (Knicks, Lakers), if you have a series that doesn't have a primetime popular mega star in it, then it's going to do poorly. Some of that is the NBA's own fault. Even last year's ratings were pretty bad considering the markets involved.

This is the point that I'm making. Unlike other leagues that promote on objective appreciation of the game and all the teams (or other network like TNT) there's a distortion from the league and it's biggest media partners.

I think they make more of an effort now than they did a few years ago, but you still get more air time for the LeBron-SAS feud than the OKC defence. So the end result is people don't understand when teams like OKC are there because they were never educated as to why they're a team worth tuning in for.

The issue is not failing to promote the finals (of course they're going to promote an event they're broadcasting and paid for) it's promoting the overall product that is the NBA, not just a sliver of stars, stories and teams.

[-Luke-]

I don't know anything about football/NFL. But how is ESPN's coverage of football? Since many people say that in football big/small markets doesn't matter as much and the league market all the the teams, I would assume that ESPN coverage reflects that and that they are more neutral and professional than in basketball? If so, why can't the same network do the same in basketball?

[jokeboy86]

OKC and Indy are two of the smallest media markets in pro sports and don’t have any established national media stars to sell the series to casuals. Parity doesn’t necessarily mean bigger ratings in of itself, it’s not like the NFL where small market teams have some of the largest national followings.

Can’t do anything about that, just have a competitive series and people will take notice

Maybe but I don’t even think a competitive series will matter because the marketing and coverage formula for the NBA’s national media partners has been broken for awhile. I’ve said it for years that Magic/Bird/Jordan saved the NBA but they also cursed the league because they conditioned a generation of casual fans of what and when they should be watching NBA basketball. Basically if it isn’t the biggest markets or the most marketable highlight stars(who are also guards or wings), don’t watch. You can add super teams to that formula as well

And naively the NBA and its media partners thought that template would always be around forever. Stern and the media basically acknowledged years ago that the game of basketball itself played at it’s highest level by its best teams isn’t enough to draw the casual fans, who’s attention span has only gotten shorter cause of the WWW. It also doesn’t help that national sports networks like everything else are slaves to all the metrics and data so their rational will never be to pivot or switch how they cover or market the league because they’ll just cite the numbers why they continue to cover when LeBron uses the bathroom, KD tweets or who the Lakers and Knicks should be acquiring. And now they’re trying to condition fans again by talking about this face of the league talk ad nauseam simply for the fact they don’t like the foreign players’ personalities, the fact that they’re foreign, or that they all don’t play for the Lakers or Knicks. There’s also some very subtle xenophobia I’ve been noticing for the past couple of years from the casual American media and casual American sports fans similar to what I saw happening with boxing.

I knew this series ratings were doomed when instead of basically covering every aspect and angle of the Finals since the Pacers won, ESPN was still talking about KD/Giannis off season rumors or what LeBron says on his podcasts.

The most ironic thing about the league right now is that the TV networks clearly prefer super teams, dominant teams, the biggest markets succeeding and really not much parity for high ratings. And yet the newest NBA owners with the past couple of CBAs and tax/apron rules have basically said screw the ratings we want parity and more teams able to possibly compete and win a title.

[wade44]

Whatever....glad real NBA fans can enjoy the high level basketball being played.

Sent from my SM-S936U using RealGM mobile app

Yup it’s their loss. NBA fans unite against casuals

[Johnny Bball]

Help me understand why people care about the TV ratings. Serious question.

If they are really bad, its an excuse to get good ole LAL back in the finals?

[JDR720]

I don't know anything about football/NFL. But how is ESPN's coverage of football? Since many people say that in football big/small markets doesn't matter as much and the league market all the the teams, I would assume that ESPN coverage reflects that and that they are more neutral and professional than in basketball? If so, why can't the same network do the same in basketball?

They aren't neutral or professional (see all the Cowboys stuff) but they do cover all the teams, or at least all the good ones, and don't talk down on teams that are in small markets. The premier NFL teams are mostly in small markets. Buffalo. Kansas City. Baltimore, Detroit etc.

I think the difference is the NBA is more player driven. The media don't want to talk about a small market team (even very good ones) if they don't have a marketable "star" and that for the past 20 years means no LeBron/Curry/KD/Kobe/Shaq etc.

[Showtime 80]

Surprise surprise, the NBA peaked with MJ and it will never be as popular for how ever long they exist,

https://hoopshype.com/lists/nba-finals-the-games-with-the-highest-ratings-of-all-time/

Even with all the stupid rule changes to make these players seem better than they really are and the force feeding of LeBron as the “new MJ” they still can’t come close. This generation is basically stuck watching the scraps of what the league was and that’s why the older fans have stopped watching this inferior incarnation.

[Hornet Mania]

Totally reasonable to just shrug and say 'whatever, their loss', but I do think this once again highlights a real problem for the NBA.

The media spent very little time this entire season talking about either OKC or Indy.

This is an awesome matchup and both teams are playing incredible basketball. We have a statistically historic team that may be about to start a dynasty and arguably the biggest Cinderella story ever as the two potential champions. Yet there is very little hype. That's a failure of the league's self promotion, and imo the fault rests with how they allow their media partners to ignore large swathes of the league.