NBA Ratings Continue To Tank Hard, Down 28% on ESPN

The NBA ratings have continued to tank through the first month of the 2024-25 season. Viewership for NBA games on ESPN, its lead broadcast partner, is down 28%, year over year.

The league was already coming off a disappointing season in which its playoff viewership decreased by over 12%.

So, commissioner Adam Silver's excuse this week that the ratings drop is a byproduct of the "election and World Series" does not suffice. The NBA has been consistently losing viewers for nearly a decade.  As a whole, the NBA has lost around 45% of its viewership since 2012.

The declines are not new. They are just getting worse.

Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal blames the fall on too much 3-point shooting.  "I have a theory that [the ratings] are down because … everybody’s running the same plays," O’Neal said this week on his podcast. "I don’t mind Golden State back in the day shooting threes, but every team is not a three-point shooter." 

OutKick founder Clay Travis blames the league's politics, calling the NBA "the original Bud Light." 

"The most consequential consumer boycott of the 21st century didn't come from drinker's rejection of a beer, it came from sports, in particular the NBA, which has destroyed its brand with a large percentage of the American sporting public by embracing woke, political, far-left-wing messaging in its games," Clay wrote.

"So why haven't you heard about this despite the overwhelming data I'm about to lay out for you? It's simple, the American sports media is so far-left wing they have refused to share the data right in front of their eyes. The American sports media overwhelmingly supports far-left-wing political messaging, they love it because it reflects their own ideals. The vast majority of the