Basketball News

Television | The first week does not make the audiences take off

Unlike the WNBA, the NBA is not experiencing a big boom in audiences. Boosted by the premiere of Victor Wembanyama last season, the number of viewers for the first week is down, indicates the specialized site Awful Announcing. With the exception of what could be the last opening night on TNT, all the other matches broadcast on national channels were less successful than in 2023.

However, it started well with the first Celtics – Knicks and Lakers – Wolves night, which brought together 3 million viewers, an increase of 6% for TNT compared to 2023.

Perhaps a last dance effect for the channel where Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley or Kenny Smith are consultants, and which could not obtain any broadcasting rights from next season?

The “Wemby” effect has run out of steam

The rest of the posters did not achieve the same success. Even Victor Wembanyama's first game of the season with the Spurs saw a severe drop-off from the previous year, and the first game of his career against the Mavericks. This same poster only brought together 1.45 million viewers, still on TNT on Thursday, compared to more than two million in 2023, and a 29% drop for the second NBA evening on TNT.

ESPN suffers the same effects, with a hint of bad luck in the programming and an inaugural Sixers – Bucks without Joel Embiid or Paul George (1.71 million against 2.55 million for the Celtics – Knicks which launched the 2023 exercise on the specialized channel) , and a small snub: the Pacers – Knicks match on Friday did not exceed one million spectators (830,000), attracting even less than a university football match broadcast the same evening.

It is also that the NBA had to deal with more serious competition than last year, since the World Series, the final of the MLB (the baseball league) captivated the United States this year with their poster between the Los Angeles Dodgers (titled last night) of superstar Shohei Othani and the New York Yankees.

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