ESPN has been avoiding talking about NBA ratings decline like a PLAGUE

[STATUTORY]

it's absolutely hilarious, no one is watching the nba finals and it's the worst kept secret in the world. ESPN trying to hide the truth from their dwindling viewing base at all cost

[RRR3]

Tbh all sports are suffering rn and the forced BLM narrative (especially given the fact that they’re encouraging voting as if Biden will solve anything) turns a lot of people off who would watch otherwise methinks.

[Phoenix]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/12/24/nba-ratings-decline-explanation-espn-tnt-abc-adam-silver/

"Giannis Antetokounmpo delivered the signature moment of the NBA season Thursday, one that was a long time coming.

The Milwaukee Bucks forward outdueled LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in a matchup of the league’s two best teams and two most popular players. To cap the night, Antetokounmpo, the reigning MVP, celebrated a three-pointer by placing an invisible crown atop his head — a suggestion that he has displaced “King James” from basketball’s throne. Antetokounmpo’s provocative challenge to James drew millions of views on social media, and their superstar showdown averaged 2.8 million viewers on TNT, making it the NBA’s most-watched game since the season’s opening week.

Yet the NBA and its major television partners have found such banner performances elusive this season. Despite a scoring boom and an abundance of magnetic personalities such as Antetokounmpo and James, NBA ratings on ESPN and TNT, through mid-December, were down more than 15 percent compared with last year. That sharp dip has exacerbated one of the toughest stretches recently for the league, which has been rocked by high-profile injuries, the Hong Kong controversy and former commissioner David Stern’s brain hemorrhage".



Ratings were in decline pre-bubble. Some are turned off by BLM, but the numbers are hard to project. Cable is down as more people are streaming ( illegally). While the Lakers are a big draw, the Heat do not have a marquee name to make for a compelling enough matchup ( Jimmy Butler is obviously a star but nobody is tuning in to see him lose to Lebron, albeit gallantly). People have other more important shit on their mind, like a pandemic. NFL is down too, albeit slightly. Lots of bars are closed, so games aren't being broadcast that way. Lots of reasons which have been discussed in several threads.

The league will be in an interesting place by 2025 assuming Lebron is gone by then because I don't see anyone currently playing who's that polarizing like Lebron is now ( and Kobe before him). The league doesn't have an obvious next torchbearer *right now*. KD, Harden, Curry are over 30. Luka being international may be a tough sell for North American audiences, ditto for Giannis. Kawhi has the personality of a grapefruit. Zion needs to prove he can stay on the court even though he obviously has the charisma and style to draw. Jury is out on the NBA's immediate future.

[STATUTORY]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/12/24/nba-ratings-decline-explanation-espn-tnt-abc-adam-silver/

"Giannis Antetokounmpo delivered the signature moment of the NBA season Thursday, one that was a long time coming.

The Milwaukee Bucks forward outdueled LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in a matchup of the league’s two best teams and two most popular players. To cap the night, Antetokounmpo, the reigning MVP, celebrated a three-pointer by placing an invisible crown atop his head — a suggestion that he has displaced “King James” from basketball’s throne. Antetokounmpo’s provocative challenge to James drew millions of views on social media, and their superstar showdown averaged 2.8 million viewers on TNT, making it the NBA’s most-watched game since the season’s opening week.

Yet the NBA and its major television partners have found such banner performances elusive this season. Despite a scoring boom and an abundance of magnetic personalities such as Antetokounmpo and James, NBA ratings on ESPN and TNT, through mid-December, were down more than 15 percent compared with last year. That sharp dip has exacerbated one of the toughest stretches recently for the league, which has been rocked by high-profile injuries, the Hong Kong controversy and former commissioner David Stern’s brain hemorrhage".



Ratings were in decline pre-bubble. Some are turned off by BLM, but the numbers are hard to project. Cable is down as more people are streaming ( illegally). While the Lakers are a big draw, the Heat do not have a marquee name to make for a compelling enough matchup ( Jimmy Butler is obviously a star but nobody is tuning in to see him lose to Lebron, albeit gallantly). People have other more important shit on their mind, like a pandemic. NFL is down too, albeit slightly. Lots of bars are closed, so games aren't being broadcast that way. Lots of reasons which have been discussed in several threads.

nah this is not about illegal streaming

this is the least active the NBA subreddit in the last 5 years (which is a good measure of popularity). people are not tuning in

[Phoenix]

nah this is not about illegal streaming

this is the least active the NBA subreddit in the last 5 years (which is a good measure of popularity). people are not tuning in

I'm saying it's a death by thousand cuts situation. What your take for the decline?

[Tobio-Star]

nah this is not about illegal streaming

this is the least active the NBA subreddit in the last 5 years (which is a good measure of popularity). people are not tuning in

Its definitely because of streaming tbh

[1987_Lakers]

Its definitely because of streaming tbh

It has a big part. Make a poll on ISH and ask how they watch their games, a large chunk of them would say illegal streams.

[STATUTORY]

Its definitely because of streaming tbh

if ppl were watching using illegal streams, they would still discuss the games on the NBA subreddit, but the subreddit activity is the lowest its been in 5 years, so that can't be it.


I'm saying it's a death by thousand cuts situation. What your take for the decline?


the woke culture has turned off the silent majority of viewers imo

[NBAGOAT]

There are other factors since streaming has been big for 5+ years. 3 playoffs are on at unusual months in bubbles all competing with each other, fall tv and worst of all the nfl.

Pretty sure nhl ratings were also hugely down.and they didn’t do much social justice stuff. MLB is overall down a bit though the nl playoff games are a bit up

[insight]

Tbh all sports are suffering rn and the forced BLM narrative (especially given the fact that theyÂ’re encouraging voting as if Biden will solve anything) turns a lot of people off who would watch otherwise methinks.

TV ratings have been declining over the past 5 years, Nielsen ratings do not capture streaming services or people using other viewing platforms. Every sport is experiencing lower viewership, in 2020 YouTube is the most watched platform not TV. We are in the middle of a pandemic with millions of people out of work. There are more important things going on in peoples lives than watching TV. It's really not that complicated, blaming it on BLM is silly to me, I didn't know that organization had so much power.

[nineiron]

Tbh all sports are suffering rn and the forced BLM narrative (especially given the fact that they’re encouraging voting as if Biden will solve anything) turns a lot of people off who would watch otherwise methinks.

all i read was "wah-wah-wah-wah" :cry:

[Patrick Chewing]

No more BLM bullshit.


Make Basketball Great Again.

[red1]

the nba will be fine. people will always need basketball as a distraction.

[Lebron_James]

It is not NBA related, other stuff is down too.Because of elections + covid

[red1]

It is not NBA related, other stuff is down too.Because of elections + covid

yeah its obviously because of other factors like the schedule and covid, and the politics plays a role for some people. these are all temporary and might even be back to the usual as soon as next season.

[nineiron]

it's probably because ppl want to watch basketball, not this shit: https://youtu.be/8fgwDbVb1T4?t=63

[insight]

No more BLM bullshit.


Make Basketball Great Again.

The NBA season was postponed, several teams were excluded from resuming the season all together. All games are being played without fans because we are in the middle of a pandemic. We are experiencing record unemployment, did people really think it wouldn't impact TV viewership?

[Phoenix]

the woke culture has turned off the silent majority of viewers imo

But other sports aren't promoting social agendas ( that I'm aware of) and they're down too. There's ALOT of things happening in the world outside sports that have people tuned out. Hell the last game I watched in full was Clips/Nuggets game 7. I've watched like a quarter of this finals, and I tune in like clockwork every year. The whole BLM thing doesn't faze me in terms of interest. I watch games through streaming. I just....don't really care much right now for multiple reasons. Just for basketball reasons? Once the Clips and Bucks went down it would have taken a meteor hitting the earth or Lebron going down to injury for the Lakers to not pull off the title at this point, so I've just naturally lost interest. Plus I'm in the UK and it's enough of a struggle staying up at 2am to watch games. There has to be a damn compelling reason for me to make that effort right now.

I'll probably tune in for game 5 to see if LA finishes them off, but my general outlook on alot of stuff right now is 'meh'. Just my personal anecdote of course....

[STATUTORY]

But other sports aren't promoting social agendas ( that I'm aware of) and they're down too.

every sport has gone down this social justice rabbit hole

in NFL players are kneeling

in baseball, they actually cancelled games to protest

in Nascar there was this whole Bubba Wallace thing

it's everywhere in sports except for the UFC, which is THRIVING

[Phoenix]

every sport has gone down this social justice rabbit hole

in NFL players are kneeling

in baseball, they actually cancelled games to protest

in Nascar there was this whole Bubba Wallace thing

it's everywhere in sports except for the UFC, which is THRIVING

I edited that post if you want to see my other thoughts on this.

[BigtimeNBAFan]

yeah its obviously because of other factors like the schedule and covid, and the politics plays a role for some people. these are all temporary and might even be back to the usual as soon as next season.

Politics play a factor for some people, but there are certainly many other factors. Other sports are suffering right now too with ratings.

[BigtimeNBAFan]

every sport has gone down this social justice rabbit hole

in NFL players are kneeling

in baseball, they actually cancelled games to protest

in Nascar there was this whole Bubba Wallace thing

it's everywhere in sports except for the UFC, which is THRIVING

You can't really hate players for kneeling when the alternative is forcing them to stand for the anthem which is political in nature. The national anthem didn't start being played regularly at sporting events until World War 2. If you don't want politics in sports, you need to quit forcing players to stand for the national anthem before they go to work.

[MaxPlayer]

You can't really hate players for kneeling when the alternative is forcing them to stand for the anthem which is political in nature. The national anthem didn't start being played regularly at sporting events until World War 2. If you don't want politics in sports, you need to quit forcing players to stand for the national anthem before they go to work.

Yeah I totally agree with this. I'm not on board at all with the woke stuff, but I love the kneeling because it's so funny to see the flag-wavers get triggered.

[starface]

the nba will be fine. people will always need basketball as a distraction.

The thing is, there are way more options for distraction than there were when we were growing up.

Kids have shorter attention spans now. They all have smart phones they can flip around on. They wanna watch a streamer they can chat with directly, or they wanna compete against someone in xbox. When we were growing up, primetime television was the only game in town. At 8 pm you could either watch the cooking channel, the home shopping network, reruns of MacGuyver, or tune into the big game.

I dont think nearly as many young people are growing up watching three hour sporting events and being invested in the winners and losers.

Sports culture in America is changing. E-sports are on a massive rise. Live streaming is blowing up. Watching athletes most people have no connection to is losing its sway. Sure there are still a million people our age tuning in. For now. But pro sports’ dominion over the cultural landscape is on an inevitable decline. The question is simply how far and how fast will it drop.

[starface]

You can't really hate players for kneeling when the alternative is forcing them to stand for the anthem which is political in nature. The national anthem didn't start being played regularly at sporting events until World War 2. If you don't want politics in sports, you need to quit forcing players to stand for the national anthem before they go to work.

I agree thh. I personally always found the national anthem before sporting games to be a weird and unnecessary thing, long before anyone was kneeling.

[insight]

every sport has gone down this social justice rabbit hole

in NFL players are kneeling

in baseball, they actually cancelled games to protest

in Nascar there was this whole Bubba Wallace thing

it's everywhere in sports except for the UFC, which is THRIVING

This is FAKE NEWS! The UFC had a few pay per view events that were successful but overall the viewing numbers are down. The Pandemic is affecting every aspect of life, it's not complicated, why do people have to make up reasons why things are not normal when we are not living in normal times?

https://www.mmamania.com/2019/8/7/20757735/ufc-espn-5-ratings-covington-lawler-record-low-donald-trump-newark-mma

[aceman]

Before start of this year TV ratings across board halved in past decade - demo down over 60%. Blm nothing to do with it.

[aceman]

This is FAKE NEWS! The UFC had a few pay per view events that were successful but overall the viewing numbers are down. The Pandemic is affecting every aspect of life, it's not complicated, why do people have to make up reasons why things are not normal when we are not living in normal times?

https://www.mmamania.com/2019/8/7/20757735/ufc-espn-5-ratings-covington-lawler-record-low-donald-trump-newark-mma

Ppl claiming to not want to see politics brought into sports are bringing politics into it

[starface]

Before start of this year TV ratings across board halved in past decade - demo down over 60%. Blm nothing to do with it.


BLM absolutely has SOMETHING to do with the severity of the current drop. It’s weird that people would argue it doesnt make a difference when there are other folks right here TELLING you point blank they arent watching right now because of it :lol

But there are indeed many contributing factors of the overall decline, including factors that pre-date this specific season.

[bullettooth]

Anyone else feel like the only people that bitch about BLM in the NBA are racist Trump supporters?

[Phoenix]

The thing is, there are way more options for distraction than there were when we were growing up.

Kids have shorter attention spans now. They all have smart phones they can flip around on. They wanna watch a streamer they can chat with directly, or they wanna compete against someone in xbox. When we were growing up, primetime television was the only game in town. At 8 pm you could either watch the cooking channel, the home shopping network, reruns of MacGuyver, or tune into the big game.

I dont think nearly as many young people are growing up watching three hour sporting events and being invested in the winners and losers.

Sports culture in America is changing. E-sports are on a massive rise. Live streaming is blowing up. Watching athletes most people have no connection to is losing its sway. Sure there are still a million people our age tuning in. For now. But pro sports’ dominion over the cultural landscape is on an inevitable decline. The question is simply how far and how fast will it drop.

I'm reminded of the days watching Sunday NBA on NBC triple headers. Big part of my childhood. Like you said though, if I was coming up as a teen today I wouldn't likely have the attention span for that.

[Patrick Chewing]

Anyone else feel like the only people that bitch about BLM in the NBA are racist Trump supporters?

Easy to say when clowns like you think all Trump supporters are racist.

You're a Nazi. If we don't think like you and fall in line, we must be racist! Or evil!

[Kblaze8855]

The ratings for virtually everything are down and people just pick and choose the reasons they want to apply. I very much doubt the Kentucky derby had a BLM issue....

Its the ****ed up way sports must be played now combined with streaming. The ratings from me watching games would barely ever be traceable. And now I have directv who through some beef with ABC won’t even let me stream the finals legally with their online service. I’m at work with a damn blackout restriction on my paid service when I log into the streaming app so me and my guys watched the finals on an illegal stream. I can’t even pick up abc over the air anywhere in my city. Never comes in.

Cord cutting has destroyed traditional ratings and so has the expansion of options. We stay comparing ratings to old standards as if there were 300 channels back in the day or like those people could follow a game on a device in their pocket.

We will never have a level playing field with past ratings these days and going forward. No fans at games and weird settings in general don’t help either.

I’m reminded of the nfl ratings decline a couple years ago when both the protesters and flag waving side took credit for it because they weren’t watching and couldn’t put 2 and 2 together.

People will spin any outcome to mean they are right.

[starface]

The ratings for virtually everything are down and people just pick and choose the reasons they want to apply. I very much doubt the Kentucky derby had a BLM issue....

Its the ****ed up way sports must be played now combined with streaming. The ratings from me watching games would barely ever be traceable. And now I have directv who through some beef with ABC won’t even let me stream the finals legally with their online service. I’m at work with a damn blackout restriction on my paid service when I log into the streaming app so me and my guys watched the finals on an illegal stream. I can’t even pick up abc over the air anywhere in my city. Never comes in.

Cord cutting has destroyed traditional ratings and so has the expansion of options. We stay comparing ratings to old standards as if there were 300 channels back in the day or like those people could follow a game on a device in their pocket.

We will never have a level playing field with past ratings these days and going forward. No fans at games and weird settings in general don’t help either.

I’m reminded of the nfl ratings decline a couple years ago when both the protesters and flag waving side took credit for it because they weren’t watching and couldn’t put 2 and 2 together.

People will spin any outcome to mean they are right.


As someone else astutely pointed out, online discussion of a particular event is a major indicator of public interest.

This board, and more importantly large and relevant boards like reddit, are basically lifeless when it comes to discussing these playoffs. In fact the BLM angle is the only thing that livens up a discussion; the problem is a lot of people discussing it arent watching BECAUSE of BLM.

Streaming has been around for a while now. And yes Im sure it has produced a decline in traditional ratings measurements. No doubt about that. Tho I would imagine streaming is more common with the NBA than with other sports, and those sports are also dipping. Plus this is a far more drastic dip vs last year, and the previous year. It isnt because people have shifted that markedly to streaming in a year’s time.

If you think the same number of people are watching these playoffs as usual, but they just cant be measured... youre in major denial.

Its not just about ratings. INTEREST is down. Significantly.

The billion dollar question is will it recover?

Im personally skeptical. I think this is part of a paradigm shift. I think people are simply caring less about pro sports. Especially younger people. I dont see all the people who arent watching this year for WHATEVER reason... suddenly returning next year. I think people are simply finding other things to do. We’ll see.

[bullettooth]

Easy to say when clowns like you think all Trump supporters are racist.

You're a Nazi. If we don't think like you and fall in line, we must be racist! Or evil!

Why don't you just come out and say it? Why pretend you have any respect for anyone? You're racist. End of story. Now piss off.

[MaxPlayer]

Why don't you just come out and say it? Why pretend you have any respect for anyone? You're racist. End of story. Now piss off.

Honestly "racist" gets thrown around so much anymore that most people no longer consider it a serious charge.

[starface]

Why don't you just come out and say it? Why pretend you have any respect for anyone? You're racist. End of story. Now piss off.


This is rich coming from a guy who shits on LeBLM constantly.

Youre literally the most racist guy on the board.

FVCK YOU RACIST.

[bullettooth]

This is rich coming from a guy who shits on LeBLM constantly.

Youre literally the most racist guy on the board.

FVCK YOU RACIST.

You must have me confused with someone else. I almost never chime in on blm or politics unless its to make fun of Trump.

[Patrick Chewing]

Why don't you just come out and say it? Why pretend you have any respect for anyone? You're racist. End of story. Now piss off.

You're simply accusing me of racism because I don't regurgitate the same talking points that you do.

I mean, I could accuse you of being racist for assuming that all White people and White Republicans are racist. You're generalizing and lumping them into a group. So yeah, you're a racist.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Its a combination of everything, but COVID/no fans is definitely the biggest one.


Why don't you just come out and say it? Why pretend you have any respect for anyone? You're racist. End of story. Now piss off.

Your sole purpose here is denigrating another black man. In other words, you're a triggered "waycist" bitch :oldlol:

[starface]

You must have me confused with someone else. I almost never chime in on blm or politics unless its to make fun of Trump.


Uh, no. You disparage the league’s most prominent black icon on a regular basis.

You are a RACIST.

And if your real identity ever leaks on here, I will make sure your racism becomes public knowledge and is publicly associated with your real life identity.

GO AWAY RACIST.

[starface]

You're simply accusing me of racism because I don't regurgitate the same talking points that you do.

I mean, I could accuse you of being racist for assuming that all White people and White Republicans are racist. You're generalizing and lumping them into a group. So yeah, you're a racist.

This too.

Bullettooth is a RACIST and we dont want that shit here.

[bullettooth]

Trump supporters really are stupid.

Criticizing LeBron for his game is now the same as criticizing him for being black.

Wtf.

[nineiron]

ppl want to watch basketball. not this shit:

https://media.giphy.com/media/RGRVGX98WsV9SNCBUn/giphy.gif

[Lakers Legend#32]

The leagues are probably glad to get rid of the Trump supporters.

[Rudeboy3]

The reason why the ratings are down is because Giannis isn't in the playoffs, he's the face of the nba, put him in a nba and the ratings spike up 100%.