NBA Ratings Down 22 Percent On TNT, 19 Percent On ESPN, 7 Percent On RSNs

[STATUTORY]

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/256333/NBA-Ratings-Down-23-Percent-On-TNT-20-Percent-On-ESPN-13-Percent-On-RSNs

Seems like no one wants to watch 3 point shoot out and exhibitions


the league dumbed down the product for international audience and discerning Americans are turning the channel.

[superduper]

Also it's the Bran casuals that cant stay up late to watch Lakers.

It's gon be a good league once all of the Bran casuals are gone :cheers:

[Mean Joe Bean]

I don't really get the ratings downward spiral... it's certainly the casual audience, not the hardcore basketball audience...

Granted, not everyone enjoys this new era of 3 point shooting Euroleague version of the NBA, but no ratings problems the last 3-4 years this has been happening. It's gotta be something else.

With hardcores, I think this is the best season of NBA in a long time. There is no clear cut favorite to win the title. Everyone always complains that it's the same 3-4 teams that have a chance to win it every year, but this year it's wide open.

Maybe having that one superteam who is better than everyone else is actually what drives casual ratings.. it did for the Warriors and 90's Bulls and early 2000 Lakers..

[FKAri]

In unrelated news TNT and ESPN reported losing subscribers to streaming services by 22% and 19% respectively.

[ThiccBoi]

It’s cause the east is garbage and all the hyped stars went west.

Ain’t nobody with a job on the east coast watching a full 10:30pm start time

[Bronbron23]

In unrelated news TNT and ESPN reported losing subscribers to streaming services by 22% and 19% respectively.
Streaming services arnt new theyve been out for awhile now so that dosnt explain it either. Its obviously the way the game is played now. Every other hoop head is complaining about the rules and the up and down three point shooting contest. I know a bunch of people who basically stopped watching the regular season because of it.

[pastis]

Part of the franchise system. No relegation into a second division. Big markets like new york washington chicago or golden state are already giving up and tanking. Who wanna see. The EC vesides Milwaukee?

[PP34Deuce]

Id be more interested in seeing viewership across Chicago NY LA golden state and washington.

Other than LA other big market teams are struggling to be competitive.

[Patrick Chewing]

Game is too slow. Too many fouls. Instant Replay slows the game down.

All this factors into a more boring product than years ago. Things don't have to change for the sake of changing things. I'm glad this is happening to the NBA.

[coin24]

The replays that take forever are ruining the games. For fu*ks sake do they need to view the play 400 times?

I normally can't watch rockets games, the free throw fest is so boring and frustrating to see the refs call that shit. And the clear path foul, just why, especially in overtime yesterday on harden.:facepalm

They've taken away the art of the game, footwork, post moves, iso play etc. this launching 70 threes a game shit is just boring

[FKAri]

The replays that take forever are ruining the games. For fu*ks sake do they need to view the play 400 times?
How else are they going to confirm someone dunked the ball?

[Mask the Embiid]

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/256333/NBA-Ratings-Down-23-Percent-On-TNT-20-Percent-On-ESPN-13-Percent-On-RSNs

Seems like no one wants to watch 3 point shoot out and exhibitions


the league dumbed down the product for international audience and discerning Americans are turning the channel.
Right because the 80 - 75 (point games) Spurs vs Pistons Finals in 05, ratings were so high.

[yeaaaman]

not sure you can say the reason but Lebron being in the West obbviously is part of it as well as the fact the majority North America lives on the East Coast so the west games are just way too late usually.

On the broadcast I was watching the other night they also said that numbers are up in most local markets and has skyrocketed in Canada.

They suggested a variable national TV schedule where they only book the season opener and the Christmas games then after that they slot the best games for the national TV games instead of garbage games that happens every year because they've been pre-determined. I actually kinda liked the idea. I don't want to watch the Suns and Kings duke it out thank you very much.

[bobopenguin]

i felt part of that was contributed by the kind of james harden.

[el_locoteee]

i felt part of that was contributed by the kind of james harden.

Sorry but white hope Luca ain't saving the cable companies.

Lol people are not paying for shitty cable anymore

[Doranku]

I agree with what Cuban said:


Ratings are down because all of our national broadcasts are exclusively available on cable, which is losing subs daily. Football benefits from being on broadcast tv which is in every digital and traditional package along with gambling available in some of the biggest markets

A lot of people just don't have TNT or ESPN because Cable television is dying.

[bigkingsfan]

Good, everyone should pirate.

[NBASTATMAN]

They should put LUKA on TV every time he has a game.. THE PEOPLE WILL WATCH THE FUTURE GOAT :bowdown:

[DMAVS41]

I agree with what Cuban said:



A lot of people just don't have TNT or ESPN because Cable television is dying.

Yea, this has to explain a lot of it.

In addition, I'd imagine the Warriors being injured and Zion being out has a lot of people turning off games with those two teams as well.

[Showtime80']

Beautiful :cheers:

The NBA deserves to DIE as it has been in a downward spiral in the quality of its on court product ever since they dumbed down the rules to enhance the AAU generation that was starting to poison the NBA landscape way back in the mid 90's until the present day.

The game has lost its soul, its grittiness, its passion, its creativity, the physicality, basically everything that shot it up the ranks in the 80's and 90's and made it must see TV. There is no player loyalty anymore and no hardcore rivalries with everybody and their mother wanting to join up and take the easy path. The player empowerment movement has buried the league which is what you get when you let the lunatics run the asylum.

The game has turned into a glorified pickup game with fake unappealing "stars" taking advantage of the offensive friendly alterations the NBA has gifted them on a silver platter for the past 20 years. You can't really tell who's truly great anymore because the league has made the game unrecognizable from what it was before.

I say good riddance!

[Showtime80']

Here you go and shed a tear the next time you watch LeBald, Curry, Westbrick, Harden, Luka go in their red carpet nightly layup drill in the modern open paints:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvVx6xKlRIM&t=57s

That highlight reel is more exciting than watching an entire season post 1998!

[Doranku]

Yea, this has to explain a lot of it.

In addition, I'd imagine the Warriors being injured and Zion being out has a lot of people turning off games with those two teams as well.

Yeah, I can't remember another year that has had this many unwatchable nationally televised games. Definitely has to be a factor as well.

[coin24]

Yeah, I can't remember another year that has had this many unwatchable nationally televised games. Definitely has to be a factor as well.


Even with league pass, you see the lineup of games and struggle to pick one to watch.. most of the teams are shit especially the east

[L8krH8tr]

I blame LeFraud, KD, and every superstar who isn

[knicksman]

AFter 2016, Im not supporting NBA ever again. Its cheap. I just watch my favorite players play and in live stream.

[Kblaze8855]

People are just being dishonest on this subject. Obviously millions of people just stream games now....which most of us do....almost none of what I watch has been trackable for years.....plus the biggest stars are either out or on the west coast killing early ratings. Like half the national tv games so far have been Pelicans with no Zion, Warriors with no team at all, Clippers with Leonard sitting, Nets with no Durant and usually no Kyrie, or the Lakers in games that end at 1am.

The biggest star not out west is Giannis and his two best matchups? Durant who is out for the year and Leonard who sat out when they played.

It’s just common sense that a gang of injured stars at the same time people stop watching cable would add up to worse ratings in national TV games.

But people in here acting like they can’t grasp why people wouldn’t watch a no Zion, Steph, or Klay Warriors/Pelicans game on at 10 pm....

[STATUTORY]

In unrelated news TNT and ESPN reported losing subscribers to streaming services by 22% and 19% respectively.
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2019/12/monday-night-football-ratings-rising-espn-vikings-seahawks/

yet MNF on ESPN ratings have grown year on year :rolleyes:

[BasedTom]

It feels like there's been a less national games actually on (for example, none last thursday obviously for thanksgiving but now none this week?) and the games we do get are the shitty Pelicans and Warriors

[FKAri]

Here you go and shed a tear the next time you watch LeBald, Curry, Westbrick, Harden, Luka go in their red carpet nightly layup drill in the modern open paints:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvVx6xKlRIM&t=57s

That highlight reel is more exciting than watching an entire season post 1998!
You can count on one hand the number of people who knew how to play basketball in the 80's. MJ dunking on talentless nobodies. And why are there so many American Whites in a professional basketball league?!

btw MJ dunking on a car mechanic at 2:40 :oldlol:

[MaxPlayer]

Aren't ratings down for every pro sport?

Much more competition nowadays days for entertainment.

[Bronbron23]

You can count on one hand the number of people who knew how to play basketball in the 80's. MJ dunking on talentless nobodies. And why are there so many American Whites in a professional basketball league?!

btw MJ dunking on a car mechanic at 2:40 :oldlol:
Man i dont know what city you live in where thre are 6'8-7'2 car mechanics.

[STATUTORY]

Aren't ratings down for every pro sport?

Much more competition nowadays days for entertainment.

nope NFL and NHL are doing better than ever. People fleeing NBA like it's a leper colony

[FKAri]

Man i dont know what city you live in where thre are 6'8-7'2 car mechanics.
Mark Eaton was actually 7'4''. He was a certified service technician working in an Autoshop in Anaheim when Tom Lubin told him to enroll in Cyprus Community College just to try out for their basketball team. Next thing you know he's doing this to MJ and The Bulls:


Eaton completely dominated the paint on both ends of the floor on a way to triple-double – 16 points, 13 boards, and 10 blocked shots! He also deflected numerous Bulls shot attempts and secured the hard fought 91-89 Jazz win by stealing the ball away from MJ on a key possession!
He went on to win 2 DPOYs and in 1989 (widely purported by nostalgists to be the pinnacle of the NBA) he got an all-star nod.

Of course, today he'd be a less athletic Hasheem Thabeet probably still working at that Autoshop in Anaheim.

[PP34Deuce]

The NFL has made progress and isn't dependant on large city teams to win.

Football is always regarded as America's sport. It hasn't changed.