NBA's ratings JUMP almost 30 percent as the NFL's television audience continues to dwindle

[pwaldo]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...tings-dip.html

While the NFL is enduring a ratings decline for the second consecutive season, the NBA is enjoying a resurgent year as national broadcasters ESPN, TNT, and NBA TV are seeing a 32 percent ratings improvement so far, according to Nielsen.

The NBA's three national broadcast partners' are averaging 1.4 million viewers per game, which marks the highest start to a season since the 2010-11 season – LeBron James's first with the Miami Heat.

Over its first 20 games of the season, ESPN has averaged 1.84 million viewers per broadcast, which is up 18 percent over the 1.56 million average viewers over the same time period in 2016-17. More importantly, ESPN has seen a 33 percent rise in the 18-49 demo, according to Ad Age.

TNT has seen a 15 percent ratings boost this season.

Remember when the media tried to say that the NFL ratings going down was normal because everything else was going down as well? Then baseball proved them wrong and it now looks like the NBA is proving them wrong as well.

[Nostalgykone]

The NBA is a global game, and the NFL is not. The NBA has done an incredible job marketing itself over the last 25 years, thanks namely to the Michael Jordan product, but also David Stern's intercontinental outreach. The 3-point shot has done wonders for the game, making it more exciting for the marginal fan, by spreading the floor, and creating fast break opportunities. One of the detractions in yesteryear was the half-court-grind-it-out-ball that made close games seemingly never end. That aspect of the game continually improves thanks to rule change tweaks coupled by the natural evolution to that up tempo game.

The NFL on the other hand has seen a rise in off the field issues like domestic violence and head injuries, which has left its players out-to-dry with minimal support. Not to mention anointed figure heads like, Colin Kaepernick, who use their platform to instigate political and social discord because of personal biases unrelated to the game.

The NBA will continue to expand its global reach, notably to places like India, led by its outstanding ambassadors. Several of the best players in today’s game are international players, and that will likely continue to trend. None of today's superstars are considered questionable characters who bring bad publicity to the game, not to say that the NFL’s best stars are and do. The NFL is losing interest not only because of a limited domestic fan base, but also because there is only one game a week which is enveloped by endless rhetoric that rivals only C-Span, it's become more of a social convention which isn’t exactly inclusive, and as important as anything else, it perpetuates violence in a culture that’s quietly seeking reprieve.

[pwaldo]

The NBA is a global game, and the NFL is not. The NBA has done an incredible job marketing itself over the last 25 years, thanks namely to the Michael Jordan product, but also David Stern's intercontinental outreach. The 3-point shot has done wonders for the game, making it more exciting for the marginal fan, by spreading the floor, and creating fast break opportunities. One of the detractions in yesteryear was the half-court-grind-it-out-ball that made close games seemingly never end. That aspect of the game continually improves thanks to rule change tweaks coupled by the natural evolution to that up tempo game.

The NFL on the other hand has seen a rise in off the field issues like domestic violence and head injuries, which has left its players out-to-dry with minimal support. Not to mention anointed figure heads like, Colin Kaepernick, who use their platform to instigate political and social discord because of personal biases unrelated to the game.

The NBA will continue to expand its global reach, notably to places like India, led by its outstanding ambassadors. Several of the best players in today’s game are international players, and that will likely continue to trend. None of today's superstars are considered questionable characters who bring bad publicity to the game, not to say that the NFL’s best stars are and do. The NFL is losing interest not only because of a limited domestic fan base, but also because there is only one game a week which is enveloped by endless rhetoric that rivals only C-Span, it's become more of a social convention which isn’t exactly inclusive, and as important as anything else, it perpetuates violence in a culture that’s quietly seeking reprieve.

True on all points but I'd just like to point out that TV ratings are only for US TV ratings. They don't take into account outside of US ratings. So let's say the Raptors made the NBA Finals and played against the Warriors. All the people watching in Canada would count for a big fat ZERO. One of the many reasons why the NBA and other sports always hope for US teams to only be in their championship finals/matches.