NBA Ratings Up This Season!

I understand what you're saying, and I'd agree that the pundits can color how people see the players and the side shit associated with the league. I just disagree that dislike the NBA now because of bad media coverage. People are stupid, but they got enough sense to know if they like the basketball they're watching or not. Nobody watches an exciting game and then turns around says they hated it because Charles Barkley doesn't like this era of basketball.
A good amount of casual fans watch highlights, clips, and sports shows, not the actual game. I'm not talking about real viewers or dedicated fans and the majority of viewers are casual.

those shows drastically color the thought process of these folks. it's just like the presidential election. there were tons of folks who voted against their best interest due to misinformation consistently reported throughout various media outlets and social media.. the media has a huge influence over what people believe is true or consume
 
A good amount of casual fans watch highlights, clips, and sports shows, not the actual game. I'm not talking about real viewers or dedicated fans and the majority of viewers are casual.

those shows drastically color the thought process of these folks. it's just like the presidential election. there were tons of folks who voted against their best interest due to misinformation consistently reported throughout various media outlets and social media.. the media has a huge influence over what people believe is true or consume

True, but those aren't the people checking into games night in and night out. That's where the NBA is falling. Their ratings are low. The people checking highlight clips are actually doing it at a high level. That's why Adam Silver believes the league is still doing good. He values those numbers over the TV ratings.
 
All the outroar about Shaq saying something stupid amuses me. People out here acting like Shaq hasn't always been a dimwit.

He has been. And he's emblematic of one of the main issues. People with stupid opinions having the loudest voices because they wanna be the stars over the players they're covering. Nick Wright of all people made a similar point that many reporters now have forgotten they're not the main stars in these athlete's stories. When people started letting their opinions and personal fandoms become part of how they talk about the game, and this goes for all sports and many others forms of media as well, it fucked up things because things often get personal.
 
He has been. And he's emblematic of one of the main issues. People with stupid opinions having the loudest voices because they wanna be the stars over the players they're covering. Nick Wright of all people made a similar point that many reporters now have forgotten they're not the main stars in these athlete's stories. When people started letting their opinions and personal fandoms become part of how they talk about the game, and this goes for all sports and many others forms of media as well, it fucked up things because things often get personal.

Sports media is garbage. I think we can all agree on that. However, saying it's responsible for the ratings slump is BS copium for people who are still fans.
 
Nobody said it is solely responsible but it is part of the problem of people not watching like they did

What are you basing that on? What you're claiming doesn't make sense to me.

The games are there. People watch. The people who like the modern NBA aren't going to stop watching because of the negative media. They defend the NBA. The people that don't like the modern NBA don't need the media to know they don't like it. They were going to stop watching it anyway. The more casual viewers were never reliable to begin with. I think it's much more likely that the rise of highlight vids and independent coverage has hurt the ratings. Most of the people who might have tuned for part of a game probably don't do that anymore. If you don't like the game enough to watch the whole thing. It makes much more sense to wait until its over and go watch the highlight vid on YouTube. The NBA and NFL understand that. That's why they put out their own condensed game vids. Again, Adam Silver has specifically said that they are catering more to that crowd these days rather than dedicated TV watchers.
 
What are you basing that on? What you're claiming doesn't make sense to me.

The games are there. People watch. The people who like the modern NBA aren't going to stop watching because of the negative media. They defend the NBA. The people that don't like the modern NBA don't need the media to know they don't like it. They were going to stop watching it anyway. The more casual viewers were never reliable to begin with. I think it's much more likely that the rise of highlight vids and independent coverage has hurt the ratings. Most of the people who might have tuned for part of a game probably don't do that anymore. If you don't like the game enough to watch the whole thing. It makes much more sense to wait until its over and go watch the highlight vid on YouTube. The NBA and NFL understand that. That's why they put out their own condensed game vids. Again, Adam Silver has specifically said that they are catering more to that crowd these days rather than dedicated TV watchers.

It doesnt make sense because you seem to be coming from the pov of people saying it's the sole determining factor instead of simply being part of a larger equation. Yes the rise of the highlight clips and independent coverage and multiple ways to take in the games has also hurt those ratings...But it's very simple. If the people on the biggest platforms consistently shit on the game more than they highlight the good about it then that will bleed into how the game is covered overall. When you've got the biggest known talkers of the game openly saying they're not paying attention to teams who have been playing good and shitting on them...that stuff does have an effect on how people, especially those casual viewers, take in the product and what they do and dont pay attention to.
 
It doesnt make sense because you seem to be coming from the pov of people saying it's the sole determining factor instead of simply being part of a larger equation. Yes the rise of the highlight clips and independent coverage and multiple ways to take in the games has also hurt those ratings...But it's very simple. If the people on the biggest platforms consistently shit on the game more than they highlight the good about it then that will bleed into how the game is covered overall. When you've got the biggest known talkers of the game openly saying they're not paying attention to teams who have been playing good and shitting on them...that stuff does have an effect on how people, especially those casual viewers, take in the product and what they do and dont pay attention to.

No, I'm not doing that at all. I just don't understand the logic. If people don't care about the game at all, then guess what, they probably aren't watching the NBA detractors. The people that watch the detractors are usually people that feel the same way. So what makes you think casuals are being turned away by them. It's not even like everyone is negative. From what I've seen, coverage is generally positive. Most of the people that crap on the leaguer are older players that aren't even on regularly.
 
No, I'm not doing that at all. I just don't understand the logic. If people don't care about the game at all, then guess what, they probably aren't watching the NBA detractors. The people that watch the detractors are usually people that feel the same way. So what makes you think casuals are being turned away by them. It's not even like everyone is negative. From what I've seen, coverage is generally positive. Most of the people that crap on the leaguer are older players that aren't even on regularly.

Because if the medium that more are consuming it through is internet highlights and clips those aren't sans commentary. There's a reason folks were initially upset about Inside The NBA being potentially cancelled is because alot still watch it and/or use those clips to stay up to date. Same with First Take. And people have emulated that style to cover and talk about the league then take a guess how a good number of even casual fans are being fed information about the current league. In a way that says it's not up to par. It's shit. It's not good. So yes that does trickle down to affect actual viewership when it comes to actual games. Because if casual viewers don't know that OKC and Cleveland are the 2 best teams because all they hear and see is how "bad the product is" from the loudest voices then what point would they have to engage the actual product outside of clips and small highlights?
 
Because if the medium that more are consuming it through is internet highlights and clips those aren't sans commentary. There's a reason folks were initially upset about Inside The NBA being potentially cancelled is because alot still watch it and/or use those clips to stay up to date. Same with First Take. And people have emulated that style to cover and talk about the league then take a guess how a good number of even casual fans are being fed information about the current league. In a way that says it's not up to par. It's shit. It's not good. So yes that does trickle down to affect actual viewership when it comes to actual games. Because if casual viewers don't know that OKC and Cleveland are the 2 best teams because all they hear and see is how "bad the product is" from the loudest voices then what point would they have to engage the actual product outside of clips and small highlights?

Bro, you're saying that ratings are lower because the casuals who don't watch the games watch shows like Inside the NBA where they hear that the games aren't good so they choose not to watch the games and so the ratings are lower. You see how circular that is and why it doesn't make sense to me.

Again, the casuals that never watched games and only tune in to shows like Inside the NBA weren't contributing to the ratings anyway, so them not watching the games isn't lowering the ratings. The only thing that would lower the ratings is if people who actually watched the games stopped watching them, and my point is that the people who regularly tuned in to basketball games would know whether they liked the games or not. They wouldn't just be going along with what Shaq says. I'm sure that there are a few people that are curious about the NBA and decide not to give it a try because they hear it sucks, but really what percentage of the lower ratings are due to that versus highlight access or dislike of today's players?
 
Bro, you're saying that ratings are lower because the casuals who don't watch the games watch shows like Inside the NBA where they hear that the games aren't good so they choose not to watch the games and so the ratings are lower. You see how circular that is and why it doesn't make sense to me.

Again, the casuals that never watched games and only tune in to shows like Inside the NBA weren't contributing to the ratings anyway, so them not watching the games isn't lowering the ratings. The only thing that would lower the ratings is if people who actually watched the games stopped watching them, and my point is that the people who regularly tuned in to basketball games would know whether they liked the games or not. They wouldn't just be going along with what Shaq says. I'm sure that there are a few people that are curious about the NBA and decide not to give it a try because they hear it sucks, but really what percentage of the lower ratings are due to that versus highlight access or dislike of today's players?

Im not saying the bold at all and thats what you keep missing. It's circular to you because again you're stuck on that being the sole reason instead of me repeatedly saying it's part of a larger set of things. I'm not saying the ratings are lower solely because of the coverage but it is a part of it. You've said so your self that the coverage is part of it. It's a contributing factor. There's no "only" or one reason. So what are you really arguing against?
 
Im not saying the bold at all and thats what you keep missing. It's circular to you because again you're stuck on that being the sole reason instead of me repeatedly saying it's part of a larger set of things. I'm not saying the ratings are lower solely because of the coverage but it is a part of it. You've said so your self that the coverage is part of it. It's a contributing factor. There's no "only" or one reason. So what are you really arguing against?

I'm arguing against it being significant enough to even warrant discussion. When people ask why interest in the NBA is waning, the media should be one of the last things mentioned. Sports media has been trash for more than a decade now. It's not to blame for the NBA's ratings drop. And you aren't saying it's the sole reason, but there are a lot of people jumping on this bandwagon of trying to blame people who criticize the league for the leagues failures.
 
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