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Did you watch the NBA’s second annual award show? No? If so, you’re not alone as Sports Media Watch reports the show was down 27 percent in ratings and 32 percent in viewership compared to last year. It’s almost like NBA fans don’t give a damn about the league’s obvious cash grab, and don’t want to wait a month after the NBA Finals to learn who wins what.
From the report:
The telecast, in which Rockets G James Harden was named Most Valuable Player, was 36% below the NBA’s average regular season audience on ABC, ESPN and TNT (1.89M).
Compared to other sports awards shows, it was no match for February’s NFL Honors (3.5M) or last year’s Heisman Trophy Presentation (2.2M), but topped the most recent awards shows in college basketball (150K), the NHL (198K) and NASCAR (327K).
The declines were particularly steep in the younger demographics. The NBA Awards pulled a 0.47 rating in adults 18-49 and a 0.45 in adults 18-34, down 38% and 44% respectively from last year (0.76; 0.81). It was not among the night’s top ten shows in either demo.
There’s really nothing to say here other than an NBA awards show is largely meaningless. If it actually mattered stars like LeBron James and Kevin Durant would postpone their vacations to actually show up. Also, the NBA isn’t exactly enticing anyone by constantly shoving Anthony Anderson and DJ Khaled down our throats.
