NBA Finals ratings highest since Michael Jordan's last title in 1998

http://www.nba.com/article/2017/06/05/nba-finals-ratings-most-watched-jordan-1998

CLEVELAND (AP) -- The first two games of the NBA Finals are the most-watched since Michael Jordan's final championship in 1998.

Despite two lopsided outcomes, Golden State's two home wins over Cleveland averaged 19.6 million viewers, according to numbers released Monday by the Nielsen company.

That's an increase of 5 percent from the 18.6 million average in 2016.

The Warriors' 132-113 victory on Sunday drew an average of 20.1 million viewers, up 13 percent from Game 2 last year and the most for a

Game 2 since Chicago and Utah met in 1998. The telecast peaked with 23.1 million viewers.

This is the first time two teams have met three straight times in the NBA Finals.

 

There you go. Ratings aren't down as many here said they would be. Guess this is good for NBA. So many stars in one series sells.

 

There is no reality TV show that gets 19 million viewers. Unless you consider sports reality TV.

 

The league would have a huge problem on their hands if the ratings weren't high through the first two games given the star power in this series and the initial anticipation for the rematch of a great series last year. This was a total dream matchup for the NBA from a marketing standpoint, the only way it could have better would be if the biggest markets were involved.

However, the product has indeed been total dog shit lately and I can't imagine that the level of gameplay in these playoffs has done anything to break in any new NBA fans, nor can I imagine this being a sustainable path forward for the NBA if subsequent postseasons follow this script. I bet cracks will start to show next season with any combination of yet another Cavs/Warriors rematch or another historic GSW cakewalk.

 

I'm not watching this bullshit. Fuck Durant.

 

As El P would say, "Little Bitch".

 

What the hell other major prime time sport event is there to watch? The NHL has a set audience. Baseball is mostly on a per market or streaming service basis. So basically, the NBA Finals are basically competing with themselves. And they stagger the schedule so they get optimum viewing times. The NBA has the great luck in that their annual playoffs occur during the few months that the cartel called the NFL is asleep. Heck, even fans of the college football beast are counting the days till preseason camps. The NBA can print all the money they want until the Big Brother wakes up....

 

I'd be more interested in viewing the ratings for games 1,2,3, and 4 (see what I did there?) to see the drop off from each game.

 

American idol was getting well over twenty million viewers during it's heyday.

 

Complete garbage

 

The article title is incorrect, and I believe deliberately misleading. The total number of viewers may be the highest since 1998, but the ratings, in term of market share are not.

There are more possible viewers now than there were 19 years ago. So, more people watching TV in general, but in terms of market share, the 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2010, 2015 and 2016 finals all had a higher average market share than games 1 and 2 of this year's finals.

In terms of market share, every finals from 1982 - 2001 absolutely destroyed this year's games 1 and 2. If the Warriors continue to win by ~20 points per game, don't look for any increase in ratings for games 3 and 4.



BNM

 

The rating are down. The total number of viewers is up, but only because there are more potential viewers now than there were in the past.

Check out the bar chart I posted above for the actual ratings and compare this year to 2004, 2010 and even 2015 and 2016.

I personally have not watched one second of these NBA finals and I have no intention of doing so. I haven't missed and NBA finals since 1971, but have no desire to watch this snooze fest.

BNM

 

Ratings were down for the regular season and for much of the Playoffs. As shown above, they may be up for games 1 and 2 but overall viewership is down significantly from what they are comparing it to with Jordan. Kind of fake news since they don't show the whole story.

To save this series, I wonder if the reffing for game 3 is totally different and it keeps the Cavs in it and gives them a little confidence that they aren't being blown out? The Warriors were better last year but lost the series due to Bogut getting hurt and Green being an idiot. Then they add Durant. What did anyone expect?

Still boring.....still not wathing.

 

As one ESPN reporter said 2 weeks ago (i think it was Arnovitz): the networks don't care about the rating for 1 game, they care about quantity. Two teams sweeping the league is horrible.
These playoffs have been complete garbage for the fans,TV Networks and the league as a whole.

 

People love trash, especially redundant trash. The NBA is the 'Top 40 Hit Music Station' of the sports world. Barf.

 

Just reading some of the latest headlines and sports writer tweets.... My God, this isn't playoff basketball, this sounds like wrestling,

 

I've tried to watch some of the finals and some of the other suck fests in this year's playoffs but have been extremely bored and shut it off every time. And I love being lazy and just sitting there and watching basketball. I fucking love doing that. It is so bad that I can't even relax to it. As the great George Carlin said when talking about another boring sport (golf), "It's like watching flies fuck". The fact that I am comparing the freaking NBA finals to golf is pretty telling.
These super teams can go do a double back-flip into an Olympic sized pool of floppy dicks. And why don't you see how long you can hold your breath down there while you're at it.

 

One thing this NBA Finals has sold me on is that promoting personality matchups over team matchups CAN be a bad thing. The legacy or hype behind has always been something that has sold the NBA. Going into a Finals Matchup, you pitched it a certain way, Boston vs LA, Bird vs Magic, Jordan vs whomever wanted to challenge him.... but I still identified the teams first. But with Lebron came the idea of the Super Team, this notion that he could take his brand wherever and build his Super Team where he wanted. Like Durant is doing the same thing, the Super Team just so happens to be Warriors. Well now, after he wins one, I can literally see some other superstars, just doing the same thing.... build a career and say, Fuck It.... join a Super Team. This will be a practice model that will be copied around the league. Now I see why leagues like the NFL and MLB always sell the game before the players. The players get big but they never get bigger than the league itself. The NBA feels like more a hierarchy of social clubs rather than a league of equal teams right now.