[OC] Down 13% vs. last year, this year’s NBA All-Star game was the second least-watched ever

Posted by frayedreality

13 comments

  2. Its like less people that have paid TV. The more the ratings have dropped.

  4. I really tried to watch it this year but I can’t get over how many commercials and ads are all over the place. I used to be sports obsessed but as I get older I’m noticing my tolerance for ads and commercials is declining. I usually stop watching during a commercial break and either stream a show or play video games.

  5. Does this count people that turned in off midway through? I honestly can’t imagine that many people actually watching the entirety of that hot garbage

  6. It’s because the all star game used to be the only time you’d see cool dunks and alley oops and a bunch of all stars playing in the same game, just showing off and having fun. Now that’s every game, 140 points and 55 3 pointers.

    They used to play the normal season games to win, and played real basketball.

  8. It’s getting tougher and tougher to justify paying to watch a game consisting of multi-millionaires running up and down a wooden court, like it’s some kind of noble pursuit. Those are the things that are sliding by the wayside as the oligarchs and their minions continue to squeeze the average person.

  9. They should learn from NHL and do a country style face off

    USA vs Canada vs EU(France, Germany etc.) vs Baltics (Slovenia, Lithuania Serbia etc.)

  11. The 4 nations final game pulled in 16million which was used as a replacement for the all star game in hockey.

    The nba is going to need a shake up to their programming to get it right.

  12. Should probably try and qualify as a sport, and not entertainment so viewers can trust the competitive integrity of what they’re watching

  13. The tournament approach was intriguing but the NBA really messed it up with all the commercial breaks and stoppages throughout this year’s game.

    We’re a bit past the point where the All-star is truly meaningful. These days, the top players are very locked in on the regular season and gearing up for the playoffs, so I don’t think they see much value in an exhibition game. At the same time, the past few years have shown that if the all-star game is close toward the end, guys will still lock in and play some entertaining basketball. Hypothetically, the tournament format should have given more of that. But all those stoppages really ruined the vibe.

    The other thing is that the pace is so fast in the modern NBA with a number of teams having half-court offenses that look more like transition offenses. That just gets amplified in the All-star game with the reduced defensive effort. So you’re not seeing as many of the methodical star vs. star iso possession against set defenses the would hypothetically be more enjoyable to the casual audience. That said, Kyrie had a really amazing possession deliberately isoing Wemby this year.

    Overall, I just don’t think the All-star game is a huge deal and it’s not worth clutching pearls about. Nobody cares about the Pro Bowl anymore either.

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