[Rankin] ... Kevin Durant continuing to address #NBA viewership being down. "I take this serious. I'm locked in as to why people don't want to watch us play."

https://x.com/DuaneRankin/status/1872176949801504956?t=sOlhzun3lYo5ImePn8Xpwg&s=19

6.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

294

u/Neemzeh Timberwolves 1d ago

The NBA has put itself into a box though, with player salaries, salary cap, expenses, etc. They basically have to use their existing models or the networks wont pay them as much. If they don't pay as much, they'll probably lose revenue. IDK tho, I'm sure someone with an economic background can explain more accessibility vs. networks paying and whether one will make more than the other. I'd imagine the NBA has crunched these numbers and still think its better for them financially to do it this way, viewership be damned.

734

u/Skunk_Gunk [CLE] LeBron James 1d ago

The biggest thing that leagues don’t account for when going this route is that they are losing the next generation of fans by doing this. People rarely start to follow teams/leagues unless they grow up with it. The league needs to think about the next 20 years just not the next quarter, could say this about 90% of companies though to be fair.

84

u/Brokengan 1d ago

You are 100. Right. Just like other said upstairs, we are junkies, we already know the teams and pay to watch. How about a 10yo, 12yo? They probably watch youtube shorts about nba but never watch a game.

98

u/JustADutchRudder Timberwolves 1d ago

Last 3 years I've been getting my nephew into the Wolves. Going to games, getting him cards to learn the team and all that. His biggest complaint is that he never gets to watch games since his parents don't have cable, just rabbit ears and Netflix. He's only 13, so I don't wanna show him illegal streams since they always have porn pop ups or things he'd click and ruin his mom's computer. So he watches YouTube clips.

80

u/TheDustyRob 1d ago edited 1d ago

This is why I've never believed that the majority of fans have switched to pirate streams despite reddits insistence otherwise. No half decent parent is gonna sit down with their kids and stream from a site where all of the ads are about horny milfs and anime titties.

77

u/_Puff_Puff_Pass 1d ago

Been pirating sports for years. Have never seen an anime titty, porn or horny milf ads. What streams are you using?! 😂

61

u/2ABB Vancouver Grizzlies 1d ago

I agree that a decent Adblock will avoid all the images.

However even when you’re blocking the ads, there are still chatrooms that show up next to the stream with some unhinged slur spammers.

15

u/jda404 NBA 1d ago

However even when you’re blocking the ads, there are still chatrooms that show up next to the stream with some unhinged slur spammers.

That's fair. I plug my laptop into my TV and watch the streams at full screen, for one watching it at full screen is way better of a viewing experience, but also when it's full screen you can't see the annoying chat going on, at least for the stream sites I use to watch sports.

1

u/2ABB Vancouver Grizzlies 1d ago

Yeah if it’s full screen you don’t see it. But when you first open the page you can, or if there’s an issue with it and you need to refresh etc.

1

u/Lunien 1d ago

You can block the chat elements too, it's one or two more steps, but it gives you basically the best experience (no ads, no chat)

1

u/2ABB Vancouver Grizzlies 1d ago

I’ve blocked the chat elements on some sites at times but after a few weeks they reappear

1

u/Lunien 1d ago

What is your block script for the element?

I've done "www.youtube.com###chat" and you could probably do "www.twitch.tv/embed/XXXXX/$subdocument" (or /chat instead of $subdocument) where XXX is the channel the chat is connected to.

I also have "www.youtube.com###panels-full-bleed-container" but I forget why lol

If not yeah sometimes it's a bit "whack-a-mole" where they change things up and you just gotta update it.

14

u/JustADutchRudder Timberwolves 1d ago

A lot of them like Surge have every site available. But half of them when you click play have wild porn pup ups you've gotta back outta 3 times before it works. My TV ass an ad blocker my buddy made me so I don't have the issue there. But if I use my computer, tablet or phone it's pretty annoying.

4

u/DacMon Trail Blazers 1d ago

Firefox with ublock origin. Problem solved.

2

u/JustADutchRudder Timberwolves 1d ago

Is that something I could set up on a lap top and it'll work without any more management? My nephew lives an hour away and I've got an old lap top. If I could set that up, so he just clicks on it and can pick his games, I'll do that before new years meet up.

3

u/DacMon Trail Blazers 1d ago

Yeah, absolutely. Just install Firefox browser and add ublock origin addon. Then go to whatever site you want to use in Firefox and you will almost never have to worry about ads.

3

u/JustADutchRudder Timberwolves 1d ago

Fucking sweet. I'm gonna dig out that lap top!

2

u/DacMon Trail Blazers 1d ago

Enjoy!

→ More replies

1

u/nflonlyalt Bulls 1d ago

The ad blocker your friend made you is likely called a pi hole if anyone wants to look up how to make one yourself.

1

u/JustADutchRudder Timberwolves 1d ago

That's what I assume it is, but it doesn't work for stuff on wifi. Just my hard wired TV. So wasn't really sure, since I thought Piholes covered even the wifi. It's hooked to my box and my tvs cord hooks to that.

16

u/Fr0zn 1d ago

I actually discovered the other day that being on the internet for two decades has made me blind to most of this scam etc shit, but put that infront of a 10 year old with no experience? They will eat those scams up like they just found their long lost Nigerian prince cousin.

1

u/JobSafe2686 1d ago

Facts

1

u/drifter100 1d ago

they just watch a lot of porn on their cpu, so their algorithm is set to porn pop ups.

1

u/_Puff_Puff_Pass 1d ago

I do too 😂🤷🏻‍♂️

1

u/SheedRanko 1d ago

For real. Haven't seen a porn add in forever. What's the new shit now?

1

u/killacarnitas1209 1d ago

Methstreams. Streameast, which doesn’t have the titty ads, has been very unrealiable recently.

1

u/jawni Timberwolves 1d ago

any time I've ever seen anyone use it, there has been porn popups, grats on your avoidance of it, but that's far from typical.

2

u/_Puff_Puff_Pass 1d ago

Use streameast, buffstreams, crackstreams and about 10 others with no adblock and never e see those or no one I know. 🤷🏻‍♂️

1

u/jawni Timberwolves 1d ago

cool

3

u/JustADutchRudder Timberwolves 1d ago

I know if my nephews dad cared to do things with him, he'd use those with him. If the Wolves had something where every game including national was on it, and it was like 50 bucks I'd get him that for his birthday or something.

3

u/TheDustyRob 1d ago

Props for stepping up and being a good uncle man!

2

u/JustADutchRudder Timberwolves 1d ago

I don't know much about kids. I just don't want my nephews growing up with no experiences or fun stuff and want them all to be better than their dad's.

2

u/TheDustyRob 1d ago

Just give them attention, play with them on occassion, and pretend to have an interest in whatever they're currently into lol. Really if you're just putting in some effort then you're already like 70% of the way there.

3

u/JustADutchRudder Timberwolves 1d ago

Always try to make it to their school or sports stuff and force them to tell me how school and things are. Once they get 10 I've found it's best, soon as oldest hit that we started fishing a lot and going to Wolves and Vikings games. The 6 and 2 year old I bring to the zoo a lot lol

1

u/DacMon Trail Blazers 1d ago

Lol. Internet ads? I haven't seen those in ages

1

u/jawni Timberwolves 1d ago

but I can't imagine the chunk of the viewership that is watching with kids is a big chunk at all.

1

u/PopcornDrift Hornets 1d ago

Anyone who thinks the majority of fans pirate lives in a bubble. I’d venture a guess that 99% of people don’t even know how to

1

u/cuntpuncherexpress 1d ago

Ad blockers are free and very effective

1

u/smalllpox Nets 1d ago

I use 3 streaming sites, none of them have e any of those ads. It could be that I use an ad blocker dns on my router but I don't see them

1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

Wait…..anime titties?!?!?!

1

u/Cannibus902 17h ago

Wtf are you watching on? Everyone I know has IPTV. Nobody is watching these on their laptops anymore lol

2

u/jcow77 Nuggets 1d ago

tbh if your nephew is 13, he'll probably discover how to illegally stream anyways around that age. I remember trying to navigate Wiziwig as a middle schooler over a decade ago to watch Colts games on Sundays because my parents didn't have cable. I would actually suggest teaching him how to navigate the grayer parts of the Internet safely. Stuff like ad blocker and how to click out of popup ads will go a long way as opposed to your nephew needing to learn it himself.

1

u/JustADutchRudder Timberwolves 1d ago

When he's at my house I show him how I do it and he's seen a few. Just no clue what he does at home since he always says he can't watch. Next time he spends the night I should teach him it a bit, get my buddy who understands what he did to my TV and maybe figure out a good ad block for him. Should just get my sister a pi hole.

2

u/lodeddiper961 1d ago

you gotta set him up with IPTV, thats the move man

1

u/JustADutchRudder Timberwolves 1d ago

I'm not nearly good enough with compture stuff. My cousin has some paid thing he keeps telling me to join. He gets everything from everywhere for like 15 a month. But I don't fully trust it/ understand it.

1

u/lodeddiper961 1d ago

yeah you just gotta do a little digging and find a provider thats been around for a while, or has a discord community for support. and only sub for 3-6 months at a time.

1

u/JustADutchRudder Timberwolves 1d ago

The one my cousin does that I believe is what you mean. Has basically lifetime slots, as long as you pay you get it. But there is only like 500 slots or maybe less. Anytime he gets an email of one opening he tells me.