NBA Finals ratings are out

[UpAndComing]

Celtics

@UpAndComing @GOAT @SchoolboyC @Raquinotj

Yupp. Whether people are fans or are hating on the Celtics, the Celtics are must see TV and always bring out one of the best ratings

As much as people hate to admit. Had the Finals been Celtics vs Thunder, it would have garnered Top 10 ratings

 

[bl2k8]

People don’t know SGA, they don’t know Jalen Brunson, they don’t know most of these players. The only guy they hyped up was Ant and he isn’t the guy that you want people to be like with his 12 kids.

Just becsuse people don’t know these guys doesn’t mean they are not marketed Y’all confuse people not knowing or really caring for bad marketing. The people either latch on with you or they don’t no amount of marketing can help that

 

[Oldschooler]

Yupp. Whether people are fans or are hating on the Celtics, the Celtics are must see TV and always bring out one of the best ratings

As much as people hate to admit. Had the Finals been Celtics vs Thunder, it would have garnered Top 10 ratings

I wouldn't say Celtics are must see TV but they're a historic legacy franchise with a huge fan base that have created rivalries in their 79 years of existence. To any real fan Pacers Thunder has been much better and more exciting basketball than Celtics Mavs

 

[CHICAGO]

Lowest since the bubble


So the lowest in the past 4 or 5 years , whippty fukking doo..the 22nd and 26th smallest TV markets are playing…NBA ratings talk is some of the most overblown shyt…

ACTUALLY ITS THE LOWEST
OF ALL TIME
NOT INCLUDING THE BUBBLE



​

 

[darius19]

Series needs to go to 6/7 to average 10 million views

 

[pete clemenza]

What part of it not even being a real buzz anywhere (internet or real life) about this series don’t you get? Especially if you’re not a fan of any of the teams/players.

It doesn’t feel important from any aspect. And it is already hard for many to watch a whole NBA game due to the flopping and 3’s.

Explain why the ratings are dropping, engagement is low and even the commissioner is compelled to speak on it to save face?

It may be a game involved but this is still business. And the marketing had been terrible and the product overall needs a overhaul. Casuals are what drives ratings because most people aren’t diehard NBA fans

Yes the ratings are low, but you have to understand that the league needed a series like this. No Bron, Curry, or KD. No TMZ storylines and no big markets. Now they get to see where they actually stand without all the crutches and props they've been getting by with for the past 30 years. If they had another Bron/TMZ/Big Market Finals instead of OKC vs Indy they would simply still be spinning their wheels and avoiding the enviable. This type of series had to come sooner or later so they can learn how to move going forward. Curry, Bron, KD, etc. might be done with the Finals and their careers are nearly over.

Zion, Ja, Antman, Tatum, Luka, etc. aren't moving the needle so now maybe they have to pivot to parity and "Any Given Sunday" type marketing. The big superstar personality that draws ratings and sells tickets aren't walking through those doors right now. WembyMania didn't even pop off and we'll see if Cooper Flag can pull in some casual cacs into the fold. Take the hit now rating wise, but build it up for the future. The billion dollar TV deal is signed. Games are still shown all across the globe. Y'all want to make it sound like they're f*cked because they don't have NFL ratings but this is far from the case. They're swimming in money and they're the biggest richest basketball league on the face of the Earth.

Cut back on the TMZ sh*t. Get the "Inside The NBA" off the air and out the paint. Go young, fresh, and energetic with their broadcast. Get some guys that actually watch the games and talk X's & O's on air. If its "complete teams over Big 3's" now then povit fully into this realm. The Big 3-form Voltron era is about to die once Bron and KD retire anyways. This is the pivot-test type of Finals right now. Low ratings now, but lets see where they take from here. Its a trust the process time for them.

 

[pete clemenza]

Lowest since the bubble


So the lowest in the past 4 or 5 years , whippty fukking doo..the 22nd and 26th smallest TV markets are playing…NBA ratings talk is some of the most overblown shyt…

Its all comparative to the NFL which is a sport built for television. The NFL runs all things TV in America and every tweak or rule they make or eliminate is for optimizing how they look on television. The only thing that can beat NFL ratings is a major catastrophic disaster that's covered by the news. Casuals can rip the NBA ratings all day long, but they're still the richest biggest basketball league on the planet.

 

[pete clemenza]

Unless it's gonna be a big market team in the Finals, it'll be tough going forward ratings wise because due to the CBA making superteams irrelevant you are gonna have small market teams making deep runs. At least in 2007 which was the lowest rated Finals there was hope because LeBron became LeBron the global superstar shortly thereafter. If the Pacers (or OKC) for that matter don't make it back, fans won't necessarily tune in for parity in the NBA. Sucks because it's good basketball being played but casual fans won't give a fukk, that just seems the way it's gonna be going forward unless somebody (Cooper Flagg maybe) takes the league by storm and goes on deep playoff runs.

I think they can reel the fans in if parity is fully a part of the league and small markets continue to make the Finals. Its just marketing and fully pivoting into parity and any team can win in any given year. It won't happen over night and eventually casuals will have to switch up their frame of thinking, but it can be done over time imo. When Bron and KD retires the league won't have a choice but to market/embrace this new NBA. Get NBC and Amazon on board and I guess let ESPN figure it out and slowly get on board with the program.

 

[Rayzah]

Just becsuse people don’t know these guys doesn’t mean they are not marketed Y’all confuse people not knowing or really caring for bad marketing. The people either latch on with you or they don’t no amount of marketing can help that

Either way I don’t here sports media talking about these guys and I don’t see them or here about them until the playoffs.

 

[Damnshow]

No matter how technically good both teams are, the average sports audience does not care about sitting for 2-3 hours and analyzing the game. There's too much entertainment to access these days. Most of them watch some parts of the game. Basketball is not soccer with thousands of hardcore fans rooting for their team every single game.

Both Indiana and OKC are MAGA cities on top of that. And none of their stars are interesting outside of basketball, nor is there any storyline to follow between both teams. For example people watched Indiana and New York series because both teams were beefing for decades. People watched boring ass Cleveland when they had Bron, etc.

You know there is a lot of European basketball as well where they really draw some plays, use strategy, etc. and almost no one from America watches that stuff.

Some of the Canada is probably interested in this finals series due to several canadians being in it. Oh well at least something.

A lotta fans used to hate on superteams with famous players, I wasn't a fan of some of them neither, but that's exactly what draws big ratings to get more fans watching. Either watching to see that team fail, or stanning their team.

 

[UpAndComing]

I wouldn't say Celtics are must see TV but they're a historic legacy franchise with a huge fan base that have created rivalries in their 79 years of existence. To any real fan Pacers Thunder has been much better and more exciting basketball than Celtics Mavs

So..... You just described Must See TV

 

[Captain Crunch]

Stanley Cup Finals>>>NBA Finals
I prefer to watch a more blue collar sport

 

[EarlyEarly]

I need to see the ratings of everything else on TV relative to their previous year ratings to really get into this. Outside of sports Wrestling is the only other thing I see that people are always throwing ratings around for.

I don't see anybody calling out NBC or Amazon for shelling out so much bread for a "dying" product that fewer and fewer people are watching. Where's the vitriol for them?

 

[Bittersteel]

The Ratings talk is so disingenuous. The Ratings didn't tank this year, they dropped in 2020 and have never recovered.

In the 2010s the NBA finals used to average 17-18 million viewers with close-out games getting 20+ million views. However, since 2020 they are barely averaging 11 million viewers.

The reason for the drop is obvious but in 2020 no one in the legacy media wanted to to discuss the ratings because to discuss why back then would lead you to the obvious answer.

They want to make this a talking point five years later

 

[DjMe]

We need the high water mark from the final game of this series (ideally a game 7) before any meaningful conclusions can be drawn.

NCAAM championship game did 18 million this year, and that's obviously a one off game. That number in comparison to the high water mark of this Finals viewership will show us where the league stands.

Last year, Boston Dallas peaked with 13 for their clincher, which is 5 million less than the amateur game.

People saying this doesn't matter or the league is in great shape are delusional. Execs are seeing that there is, at bare minimum, 5 million sets of eyeballs tuning in to watch championship basketball at the amateur level that bypass the pro game. Imagine if the CFB championship outdrew the Super Bowl? Consistently?? If the college world series was doubling up the MLB World Series?? This is absolute nightmare fuel for a professional league.

The Final Four games themselves did 15-16 million! You got amateur semifinals doing better numbers than a professional championship!

Gotta remember: the broadcast deal is, in a sense, speculative. There's exactly one contract in the NBA that isn't guaranteed, and it's Silver's. If he goes, a new commish comes in after him that will have a mandate to shake the league up. How that happens will be cool to watch.