As a whole, the NBA has lost around 45% of its viewership since 2012.

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Now explain why Baseball, WNBA, College Football, NFL, etc are not having these huge declines.

People don't like the NBA right now and you can't handle it

Baseball has been declining in TV ratings (The 2023 World Series was the least watched on record, with viewership under 10 million, a staggering 23 percent drop from the prior season). Football is part of this country's identity, so that'll run parralel to that (even with folks not liking the product). WNBA is irrelevant in this context since it's always been a footnote in sports, but is starting a rise because it has a player to take it to new heights.

All sports, in general, have been declining in TV ratings.

There's more folks who watch/follow than the NBA over the past decade than ever before, again, you can't use TV ratings as a measurement for anything.

Viewership =/= TV ratings.

 

[gtj1982]

Y’all knew who they were because they played in college for multiple years, not because they didn’t shoot 3s or had some super exciting style of play that was must see TV

Yeah that’s what I said. Then I explained why it’s not entertaining to watch the current product for me. The periods indicate separate sentences and thoughts.

 

[IrateMastermind]

Stars being out is an issue. I turned on okc sas and Chet was hurt, which I knew. But wemby was out too so I turned the channel. This shyt happens often.

Spamming 3s is an issue. Anyone who mentions Steph and gsws ratings hike is missing the point. They were the exception when they were doing it. They weren’t the rule. Now it’s boring because there’s only one GSW.

Every team looking the same is stupid branding. Why would I tune in to watch the game I just saw yesterday. That’s essentially what the league is trying to create with positionless basketball. Football, on the other hand, has so many different ways to be successful. It’s not an accident that it’s also the most interesting sport right now.

Until the NBA fixes these problems, the game is gonna be a time waster. Not something people make time to watch.

 

[bigde09]

Baseball has been declining in TV ratings (The 2023 World Series was the least watched on record, with viewership under 10 million, a staggering 23 percent drop from the prior season). Football is part of this country's identity, so that'll run parralel to that (even with folks not liking the product). WNBA is irrelevant in this context since it's always been a footnote in sports, but is starting a rise because it has a player to take it to new heights.

All sports, in general, have been declining in TV ratings.

There's more folks who watch/follow than the NBA over the past decade than ever before, again, you can't use TV ratings as a measurement for anything.

Viewership =/= TV ratings.

 

[CrimsonTider]

Baseball has been declining in TV ratings (The 2023 World Series was the least watched on record, with viewership under 10 million, a staggering 23 percent drop from the prior season). Football is part of this country's identity, so that'll run parralel to that (even with folks not liking the product). WNBA is irrelevant in this context since it's always been a footnote in sports, but is starting a rise because it has a player to take it to new heights.

All sports, in general, have been declining in TV ratings.

There's more folks who watch/follow than the NBA over the past decade than ever before, again, you can't use TV ratings as a measurement for anything.

Viewership =/= TV ratings.

Show us the viewership numbers

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Stars being out is an issue. I turned on okc sas and Chet was hurt, which I knew. But wemby was out too so I turned the channel. This shyt happens often.

Spamming 3s is an issue. Anyone who mentions Steph and gsws ratings hike is missing the point. They were the exception when they were doing it. They weren’t the rule. Now it’s boring because there’s only one GSW.

Every team looking the same is stupid branding. Why would I tune in to watch the game I just saw yesterday. That’s essentially what the league is trying to create with positionless basketball. Football, on the other hand, has so many different ways to be successful. It’s not an accident that it’s also the most interesting sport right now.

Until the NBA fixes these problems, the game is gonna be a time waster. Not something people make time to watch.

That's always been the case in the NBA.

You only think it's different now because you have access to every game, every night.

I remember the late 90s and early 2000s, and the criticism around how there were no stars, how the effects of the expansion killed the game, how very few teams showed any skill, how folks were fed up with low scoring games. There were critiques about 90s ball and how the game was reduced to ISOs without a whole lot of variance and entertaining play that came in the 80s.

 

[CrimsonTider]

The game is just interesting as it once was. Even the number of replies on here as gone down drastically. No game thread like it used to be just a whole lot of bullshyt. When was the last interesting nba finals?

The nba doesn’t hold peoples interest anymore. I don’t even have real life convos about basketball anymore, people only care about football


ultimately I think the nba lacks a lot of what makes sports special. Rivalries, team pride, winning meaning everything to players,

 

[IrateMastermind]

That's always been the case in the NBA.

You only think it's different now because you have access to every game, every night.

I remember the late 90s and early 2000s, and the criticism around how there were no stars, how the effects of the expansion killed the game, how very few teams showed any skill, how folks were fed up with low scoring games. There were critiques about 90s ball and how the game was reduced to ISOs without a whole lot of variance and entertaining play that came in the 80s.

I grew up in the 90s and they definitely had different styles. The heat, nets, lakers, bucks, and sixers looked different. The objective was the same, score in the paint, but how they went about it was different.

The issue with the 90s was everything you mentioned above.

I wish the league could merge the eras. It’d make a great product.

 

[Methodical]

Because the NBA is boring now, nothing exciting anymore, it's like they ain't even try, it likes more like scrimmage games. They do too many dumb shyt ideas in the NBA.


The WNBA is more fun to watch than the NBA now because they take competition seriously.

 

[Po pimp]

Game was better back in the day when hoopers just shutted up and dribbled, huh?

Thats how a lot of white people feel. Always seeing white people saying they don’t watch the NBA, but they love football, baseball, and hockey. They prefer college to the pros because the coaches still have control, but NIL is making it hard for them to root for “entitled players.”

 

[SchoolboyC]

The nba doesn’t hold peoples interest anymore. I don’t even have real life convos about basketball anymore, people only care about football


ultimately I think the nba lacks a lot of what makes sports special. Rivalries, team pride, winning meaning everything to players,

Divisions are the easiest way to create rivalries and NBA fans and media complained to the point where they no longer matter

 

[inndaskKy]

Isn't this just the LeBron effect?

2012 was at the beginning of the high point of LeBron's star power with Heatles mania. All the attention LeBron helped bring to the sport and its other stars would naturally start waning a bit after 2016.

Comparing single games/season openers with one another is also pretty useless since star power and context plays a huge role in determining ratings for particular games. Wemby's debut shows that too.

 

[fifth column]

Isn't this just the LeBron effect?

2012 was at the beginning of the high point of LeBron's star power with Heatles mania. All the attention LeBron helped bring to the sport and its other stars would naturally start waning a bit after 2016.

Comparing single games/season openers with one another is also pretty useless since star power and context plays a huge role in determining ratings for particular games. Wemby's debut shows that too.

The LeBron effect is him ushering in the mindset that having a competitive spirit is not necessary as long as you take the easy route to achieve the end results. This has been a detriment to the NBA because the fans were always there for the competition.

The league needs a reset

 

[triplehate]

They are the casuals they make fun of. Everything was better when they were younger.

Now I didn't want to get into that in particular, but as someone that has had all the sports channels legally or illegally...*lupe voice*.

They have always been casuals to me, they mostly were fans of the most popular team who was conveniently featured on national tv once a week. Were given hand delivered matchups to watch, and didn't give a damn about the rest of the league and was saying to contract them if a young player ended up on those teams because "ain't nobody gonna watch him on whatever bum ass team it is.

It's 82 games, you play the opposite conference twice, then however many games in your division. But you'll only watch if it's on Thursday night?? Sounds very very casual to me. Klay is returning to Golden State let's all watch tonight!!! So you need storylines now? Scust

nikkas didn't get league pass until 2k started including it. But all the ratings and disappointment in the league and what they need to improve the league threads can just be boiled down to "my favorite player out the league so I don't have a reason to watch. "

 

[fifth column]

Now I didn't want to get into that in particular, but as someone that has had all the sports channels legally or illegally...*lupe voice*.

They have always been casuals to me, they mostly were fans of the most popular team who was conveniently featured on national tv once a week. Were given hand delivered matchups to watch, and didn't give a damn about the rest of the league and was saying to contract them if a young player ended up on those teams because "ain't nobody gonna watch him on whatever bum ass team it is.

It's 82 games, you play the opposite conference twice, then however many games in your division. But you'll only watch if it's on Thursday night?? Sounds very very casual to me. Klay is returning to Golden State let's all watch tonight!!! So you need storylines now? Scust

nikkas didn't get league pass until 2k started including it. But all the ratings and disappointment in the league and what they need to improve the league threads can just be boiled down to "my favorite player out the league so I don't have a reason to watch. "

I disagree, the NBA sucks as is right now