Who says the NBA isn't popular?

galaxy27

Game 1 viewers:

2015 NBA Finals - 17.8M

2014 World Series - 12.2M

2015 Stanley Cup Final - 5.5M

sparky64

<< <i>Who says the NBA isn't popular? >>


I do.

Then again, I'm probably mistaken.

lanemyer85

apparently the regular season does to, because the average NBA ranking during the season is no better than fifth behind NASCAR according to the Sports Business Journal.

NFL
MLB
College Football
NASCAR
NBA
NHL

sure it helps NASCAR that it's a one day per week that turns into event viewing as a broadcast, just as it does the NFL and college football, but this shouldn't be much of a surprise things change in the playoffs. MLB and the NHL aren't star driven national sports. They're team driven sports with regional appeal . It also helps the NBA that ESPN projects a sense of no sports outside of the NFL and NBA exist on all their insipid talking head shows...and that of course comes from ESPN owning (and heavily paying for) broadcasting rights to those two mediocre entities.

keets

looking at the list..................

NFL
MLB
College Football
NASCAR
NBA
NHL

..................it becomes clear to me that there are any number of reasons why some on the list are more popular or would have a larger audience than the NBA.

NFL --- superior marketing and only one game per week when pretty much everyone is off work.
MLB --- the pace of the game, its simplicity, history and emphasis on statistics.
College Football --- marketing directed at 18-30 year men on a Saturday should make this number one.
NASCAR --- I think NASCAR may have marketing almost as good as the NFL, it runs all year and it's right there with MLB in terms of simplicity. if you look at the infield at races no one can even see what's happening.
NBA --- I think the playoff format works against fervent watching during the regular season and the game is too fast paced for woman.
NHL --- by nature it is a northern sport and it is up against the NFL, NBA and Nascar.

lanemyer85

while some sports market their wares much better than others, when it comes to TV ratings, it's much more simple than that. The NFL, NCAAF, and Nascar are EVENT viewing sports. The same way Award shows, American Idol and Glee at their peaks, Walking Dead and Game of Thrones are now for people who watch those shows. It's one day per week, and in the case of football, short regular seasons, largely with everything on the line for at least half of the teams in the league. You can add the NCAA basketball tourney to that as well. The average regular season men's basketball games would rank 9th on that list behind activities like golf on average. Toss in World Cup soccer and UFC PPVs as well. UFC PPV's do well in terms of buys, but their weekly TV show doesn't draw flies....consistent sub 1.0 ratings. There are also other circumstances for football having an edge with fantasy football and football being the easiest sport to gamble on so there's that too and you shouldn't underestimate the importance of both of those two factors.

The problem with MLB is how often does a World Series have a meaningful Game 7? The last time it had a Game 7 it drew 25M which was slightly above what the US/Portugal World Cup match drew between coupling ESPN and Univision (that match also had the good fortune of taking place on a Sunday evening), as well as roughly the same audience that last year's BCS Championship game drew.

Even if MLB drew another 25M this year in a hypothetical Game 7, it's still half of what Game 7 drew in 1986 with the Mets and Red Sox which was 51M. The average audience for a World Series game between the 1984-to the strike of 1994 was 31M. As I mentioned previously, MLB has become completely regionalized save for the Yankees and Red Sox and to a lesser extent the Dodgers, Giants, Cubs and Cardinals (all of that thanks to ESPN and Fox who have made it seem like every other team doesn't matter unless there is a great 'story' attached to them), but there are probably other factors such as with the addition of the wild card and divisional series systems, it's probably just too much baseball for the casual baseball fan when their favorite team is eliminated. It's certainly the same with the NHL where outside of a couple northern markets like Buffalo, Detrolt, and Minny, very few American fanbases still watch the NHL after their team is bounced from the playoffs.

I guess the current model for TV viewership drawing success is 3 parts - Event viewing (one game per week)preferably with some in game drama, make it a star driven sport, and some form of social media mainstream attention grabbing incident to get the average moron to offer up their hot takes ie Deflategate/LeBron bailing on his hometown team for Miami/LeBron's coming home!/Luis Suarez bit another dude! etc.

keets

MLB is too nuanced and slow paced for most people to enjoy.

markj111

To each his own. I watch baseball games throughout the year. I do not think I have ever watched an entire NBA game. I have not seen even a piece of a game in at least 25 years. I just do not care. I've seen more than 30 seconds of any hockey game. We all have our likes and dislikes.

pocketpiececommems

I basically watch the NBA finals and that's about it for them.

timpatg

<< <i>I basically watch the NBA finals and that's about it for them. >>



Same here but I only tune in around the late 3rd quarter. How many people would be watching if Bronbron wasn't in it?

Burd

<< <i>Game 1 viewers:

2015 NBA Finals - 17.8M

2014 World Series - 12.2M

2015 Stanley Cup Final - 5.5M >>

ME!!!! I'm from Cleveland and I know that the reason that the finals this year r so high is that everyone wants to see if Lebron can do it himself......other than that there is no reason to watch a sport w no talent.