Colin Cowherd Dunks on NBA Detractors as TV Ratings Surge: ‘That’s Not What I Heard From a Lot of Conservative Outlets’

Brandon ContesJun 24th, 2021, 3:13 pm
 

A number of factors contributed to the significant decline in TV viewership during last season’s bubble NBA Playoffs. Ignoring the global pandemic, detractors attempted to blame down ratings on social justice messaging and the league’s relationship with China.

Fox Sports Radio host Colin Cowherd discussed the league’s surging ratings from this year’s playoffs, simultaneously dunking on the critics and boycotters who touted last season’s viewership decline as the NBA’s death.

“They were never boycotting to begin with,” Cowherd’s co-host Joy Taylor said with a laugh. “But if they were, they were certainly watching the NBA Playoffs.”

Taylor informed Cowherd that viewership for this season’s NBA Playoffs are up 39% as compared to 2020.

“Ratings in the NBA were up 39%?” Cowherd said with sarcasm. “They were boycotting, right? Because of China and stuff?”

“And [fans] just couldn’t handle Black Lives Matter on the court, so it definitely was going to be the end of the NBA,” Taylor added sarcastically. “Turns out it wasn’t, viewership is up 39% from last season…also the viewership share for this year’s playoffs … is at its highest since the league first began logging that data during the 2002-03 season.”

The Viewership share cited by Taylor offers a way to measure ratings against past NBA seasons, while factoring the reduced number of homes that still use linear cable television.

With no fans in the building and playoff games being unprecedentedly played in September and October, the 2020 NBA Playoffs were set up for ratings failure. Now that they’ve returned to a more normal product and TV schedule, NBA ratings are not just up, they’re surging.

“Slow down,” Cowherd said. “Since the NBA for 18, 19 years has been logging this information, it’s the highest percentage of televisions in America watching the NBA Playoffs? That’s not what I heard from many conservative outlets,” the Fox Sports Radio host said as he continued his sarcasm.

“Democrats and Republicans both do this,” Cowherd added. “They let their political beliefs alter their opinions on sports … I got news for ya, people are gonna watch sports until the day I roll over.”

In addition to their TV success during this year’s playoffs, the NBA has displayed a tremendous digital and social media following. According to Alex Kennedy of Basketball News, the NBA’s Instagram account has generated 1.1 billion video views this season, good for second most on the platform.

Watch above via Fox Sports

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