Ratings down across all sports,

[Down3223]

more context as it relates to the NBA

The 37 percent decline is in line with the broader trend facing the sports industry since the wave of cancellations and postponements in March. The NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs declined an almost identical 38% across NBC’s TV and digital platforms (from 1.53M to 953K) and the MLB Division Series sank 40% on TBS, FS1 and MLB Network (from 3.04M to 1.82M)

The decline in sports ratings comes amidst a broader decline in television viewing overall; an average of 76.2 million viewers were watching primetime television on the first five nights of the Finals, nearly eight million fewer than during last year’s Finals (83.8M).

Cable news viewing has taken up a greater portion of that diminished audience. Viewership on the “big three” cable news networks was 78% higher on the first five nights of the Finals than during last year’s series, rising from 3.8 to 8.4 million viewers combined.

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2020/10/nba-playoff-ratings-decline-finals-record-low-sports-viewership/

[elchengue20]

Wow, people in 2020 doesn't watch much TV anymore, who would have tought it.

[Jabroni Lames]

This is simple supply-demand economics. For 5 months, we had no live sports and pent-up demand.... and then suddenly we had an oversupply of all sports and we still do. It didn't help that the oversupply came in the summer when people normally watch less sports anyway. It also didn't help that playing in front of fans is a huge part of the sports experience.

[illuminati666]

The WNBA benefitted from playing during the same time as the NBA, the co-promoting def had me paying a lot more attention to it. Maybe they should look into running the season over the same span, and maybe a little later so starved basketball fans right after the NBA finals got the WNBA finals.

[bisme37]

A Marist poll just came out on people's reasons for watching less sports. There are a number of factors and they vary by demographic.

Here's a chart but there's much more info in the links if anyone's interested.



Also this:

A comparison to a similar Marist Poll conducted in March 2017 shows an overall decline in Americans who consider themselves fans of specific professional sports leagues. Self-described NFL fans fell from 67% at that time to 52% currently. The proportion of baseball fans fell from 51% in March 2017 to 37% now, and basketball fans fell seven points from 44% to 37%. NASCAR experienced a six point drop, 22% to 16% in its fan base.

http://maristpoll.marist.edu/marist-center-for-sports-communication-marist-poll-results-analysis/#sthash.iFlBniBt.BxjbFKcw.dpbs

http://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Marist-Poll_Sports-Communication_USA-Complete-Survey-Findings_202010091420-1.pdf#page=1

[LAvision]

LOL at WNBA finals rating are up.

[D.Brasco]

People are used to normal schedules. Watching the NBA and Stanley Cup finals in October was something people weren't used to.

Things should balance out as soon as the world gets back to normal from Covid. It wasn't the "politics".

[Jabroni Lames]

A Marist poll just came out on people's reasons for watching less sports. There are a number of factors and they vary by demographic.

Here's a chart but there's much more info in the links if anyone's interested.



http://maristpoll.marist.edu/marist-center-for-sports-communication-marist-poll-results-analysis/#sthash.iFlBniBt.BxjbFKcw.dpbs

http://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Marist-Poll_Sports-Communication_USA-Complete-Survey-Findings_202010091420-1.pdf#page=1

They missed the most important factor for me: too many live sports options competing for your viewing time on any given day. I really love sports, but at most I can watch maybe 2 games of any sport in a day and then it's overload. And, tbh, I don't always like to watch sports every single day, like when you had 4 games per day, every day, in the NBA bubble regular season, at weird times.

[bisme37]

Spoiler:

A Marist poll just came out on people's reasons for watching less sports. There are a number of factors and they vary by demographic.

Here's a chart but there's much more info in the links if anyone's interested.



http://maristpoll.marist.edu/marist-center-for-sports-communication-marist-poll-results-analysis/#sthash.iFlBniBt.BxjbFKcw.dpbs

http://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Marist-Poll_Sports-Communication_USA-Complete-Survey-Findings_202010091420-1.pdf#page=1

They missed the most important factor for me: too many live sports options competing for your viewing time on any given day. I really love sports, but at most I can watch maybe 2 games of any sport in a day and then it's overload. And, tbh, I don't always like to watch sports every single day, like when you had 4 games per day, every day, in the NBA bubble regular season, at weird times.

Agreed, I think that's a big factor too.

[Tor_Raps]

Wow, people in 2020 doesn't watch much TV anymore, who would have tought it.

I brought this up before but so many are stuck at home, what the hell are they doing with their time?

I know streaming services were doing great but even they're running out of content. Movie and TV shows content has gotten to be slim.

[witnessraps]

I bet more and more people are just getting tired of paying for cable with good options available. With a lot of people staying in and working from home it doesn't make too much sense for people not to be watching

[Shock Defeat]

Those horses got too political. Only explanation for the lower Preakness ratings.

[Dr Aki]

A Marist poll just came out on people's reasons for watching less sports. There are a number of factors and they vary by demographic.

Here's a chart but there's much more info in the links if anyone's interested.



Also this:

A comparison to a similar Marist Poll conducted in March 2017 shows an overall decline in Americans who consider themselves fans of specific professional sports leagues. Self-described NFL fans fell from 67% at that time to 52% currently. The proportion of baseball fans fell from 51% in March 2017 to 37% now, and basketball fans fell seven points from 44% to 37%. NASCAR experienced a six point drop, 22% to 16% in its fan base.

http://maristpoll.marist.edu/marist-center-for-sports-communication-marist-poll-results-analysis/#sthash.iFlBniBt.BxjbFKcw.dpbs

http://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Marist-Poll_Sports-Communication_USA-Complete-Survey-Findings_202010091420-1.pdf#page=1

Apparently those turned off by the political messaging were made up by those who started watching MORE because of the political messaging.

Read on Twitter

[zimpy27]

Sports are pretty social.

Many people watch games to catch up with friends or chat to friends later about it.

I also feel not playing sport has dropped my interest in sport.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Please don't provide data and nuance on the GB. This space is meant for people to rage post about how they hate BLM and its ruining the NBA.

It's not like all sports being played at once during the middle of an election/pandemic could have anything to do with it.

[Dupp]

What the racists got to say about this?

[Da ThRONe]

The WNBA benefitted from playing during the same time as the NBA, the co-promoting def had me paying a lot more attention to it. Maybe they should look into running the season over the same span, and maybe a little later so starved basketball fans right after the NBA finals got the WNBA finals.

The WNBA is in the Summer because practically all those women play oversees during normal NBA season. That's were most of them make their real money.

[Down3223]

A Marist poll just came out on people's reasons for watching less sports. There are a number of factors and they vary by demographic.

Here's a chart but there's much more info in the links if anyone's interested.



http://maristpoll.marist.edu/marist-center-for-sports-communication-marist-poll-results-analysis/#sthash.iFlBniBt.BxjbFKcw.dpbs

http://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Marist-Poll_Sports-Communication_USA-Complete-Survey-Findings_202010091420-1.pdf#page=1

They missed the most important factor for me: too many live sports options competing for your viewing time on any given day. I really love sports, but at most I can watch maybe 2 games of any sport in a day and then it's overload. And, tbh, I don't always like to watch sports every single day, like when you had 4 games per day, every day, in the NBA bubble regular season, at weird times.

yeah...this along with placing (sports being played at weird times in atypical months of the year) is what really killed everybody.

[Down3223]

Those horses got too political. Only explanation for the lower Preakness ratings.

[Da ThRONe]

People are used to normal schedules. Watching the NBA and Stanley Cup finals in October was something people weren't used to.


Things should balance out as soon as the world gets back to normal from Covid. It wasn't the "politics".

This is why I say the NBA should reduce the number of regular season games that allows the NBA to play 2 games a week on the same days. IMO the main reason the NFL viewership is so high is because anybody that knows anything about the sports knows that they can turn the TV on on a Sunday and they'll have their team playing.