On the AOL Fanhouse, Marcel Mutoni laments, “More People Are Watching Wrestling Than The NBA Playoffs“. SportsbyBrooks mocks “SPONGEBOB, MASKED MEN BEAT NBA PLAYOFF TV RATINGS“. And both pieces cite Dwight Jaynes of the Portland Tribune, who argues that the “NBA can make it hard to be a fan“.
Evidently, some people know nothing about the cable television landscape.
‘Shockingly’, the NBA Playoffs are in competition with WWE Raw and kids’ shows for television ratings. This information obviously means that nobody is watching and the league is a complete failure. After all, as SportsbyBrooks notes, the information only “confirms what most of you already know: Less and less of us are watching the NBA playoffs.”
Well, that would be the case, unless one factors in that WWE wrestling and kids’ shows always get huge ratings, usually higher than or in competition with cable sports fixtures such as the NBA Playoffs, the baseball playoffs and the NFL Draft. And that would be the case, unless one factors in that NBA ratings on cable are about as high as they have ever been. Broadcast (NBC and now ABC) is where the NBA is faltering.
Of course, it is easy to manipulate the numbers to say anything one wants. The NBA must be doing worse than any other sport if its ratings are behind the WWE and Spongebob Squarepants. Nevermind the fact that Major League Baseball faced that same fate last year during its playoffs (in fact, only one of ESPN’s 10 Division Series telecasts finished in the top 10 weekly cable ratings last season). Nevermind the fact that the ‘all-powerful’ NFL Draft was beaten by the WWE in the ratings this year as well.
And nevermind the fact that NBA Playoff coverage has led TNT to consecutive weeks as the most watched cable network in primetime. The numbers by themselves look bad — and as long as nobody bothers to examine them, an argument can be made that the league is losing its popularity.
The fact is, the WWE does very well, week in and week out on broadcast and on cable. Children’s shows routinely take up most of the top 10 cable shows on a weekly basis. This is not a reflection on the NBA or even Major League Baseball or the NFL Draft. This is a reflection on the WWE and Spongebob Squarepants.
Related: Why Spongebob beats SportsCenter.
