Comments on: Finals wrap up record year for NBA streaming

By: Ryan Lawler

Ryan Lawler — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:19:17 +0000

@kwasi, I think it’s difficult to argue over why one season’s playoffs is rated more highly than another. Sometimes the teams or the storylines are more interesting than in past seasons. In the case of this year’s playoffs, there were a lot of things that appealed to viewers — there was the Mavs underdog story, hatred of LeBron and the creation of the Heat machine, etc.

That said, there’s some evidence to suggest that ancillary video highlight reels and materials from online create excitement for the actual broadcasts of live events like this. It’s really too difficult to say one way or another, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the increase in streaming was one component in the increase in overall audience for the broadcast.

By: Ryan Lawler

Ryan Lawler — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:15:26 +0000

Alvy, I disagree. If people are watching a record amount of online video on NBA.com during the playoffs, then clearly that video has value. It might not be live games, but people are catching up on highlights, etc. in a place that the league can monetize them.

By: kwasi

kwasi — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 18:20:13 +0000

Ryan, the NBA playoffs were high rated because people like me who subscribe to NBA league pass during the season had to watch the playoffs on TV. There’s no other option.

Think of sports on TV as you would music in the CD era. You had to buy the CD to hear the song. When the NBA enables streaming for the playoffs, their ratings will fall kind of like CD sales.

By: Alvy

Alvy — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:10:59 +0000

I’m very confused by this article. I am not aware that you can (legally) watch NBA playoff games online at nba.com or anywhere else–other than espn360.com sometimes. NBA.com does not stream live games that I know of, and I would know because I am a big NBA fan and don’t have cable. I had to watch games on pirate internet tv feeds during the playoffs. The playoff games are shown by cable stations, which own the rights to broadcast them. TNT does not show their games online. ESPN owned some of the games, and they would show those games on espn360.com as well as on their cable channel. Thanks ESPN!
I also have AppleTV with the NBA app, and that didn’t show any playoff games at all. Again, the cable channels own the exclusive rights to show those, and the NBA app specifically excludes any game that it broadcast nationally, which is all playoff games. So this article is very unclear. Perhaps it means games were shown online during the regular season, but during the playoffs that virtually ended. If ‘online videos’ means highlight reels, interviews, and that other crap, then who cares? The only thing that is of value is actual games.

By: killthecablebill

killthecablebill — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:18:31 +0000

I hope the NFL and MLB are listening. Non-cable subscribers are very hungry for access to more live sports. Whoever comes out with a solution – takes a ton of business.