In the eyes of many fans, the NBA has never been better. There are numerous superstars sprinkled throughout the league and for the first time in almost a decade, there is some parity when it comes to who might make it to the NBA Finals. Despite all of this, NBA Ratings continue to plummet, meanwhile, the NFL's ratings are consistent. During a recent Twitter thread, Mark Cuban came to the rescue to try and explain why this dip in ratings has occurred. As he explains, a lot of it has to do with TV subscriptions.
"Ratings are down because all of our national broadcasts are exclusively available on cable, which is losing subs daily," Cuban wrote. "Football benefits from being on broadcast tv which is in every digital and traditional package along with gambling available in some of the biggest markets."
https://twitter.com/_/status/1199908455387144193
FS1 host Colin Cowherd saw Cuban's reply and offered a different answer. Cowherd believes the NBA television rating issue can be explained by the lack of superstars in the Eastern Conference which boasts all of the early games. While this is certainly an interesting take, Cuban immediately came back with some data to dispell Cowherd's claims.
https://twitter.com/_/status/1200155869012475904
Regardless of where you fall on this issue, it's certainly an interesting one to consider. The NBA tends to dominate social media when compared to football but isn't getting the same ratings. Based on the date provided, it really seems like Cuban makes a great point here. Perhaps the NBA will take this into account when devising their digital content strategies moving forward.
