The leagues’ last slate of playoff games were nearly all down a few percentage points from the previous week’s games. But it is hard to quantify the effect on the NBA’s ratings of an Oval Office rage-tweet, a snide remark from a Fox News host, a problematic relationship with China or an avalanche of negative columns in conservative media, especially in this aberrant year. Sam Amico. Sunday’s game on ABC was the most viewed NBA game on TV since Christmas day, averaging 5.43 million viewers and a 2.9 rating. Shlomo Sprung is a senior contributing writer at Forbes SportsMoney. One of the catalysts for change was the decision of Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, not to stand for the national anthem in 2016.

Here's the breakdown for Sunday, September 20, 2020 (numbers are fast-affiliate based): Keep up with your favorite shows... delivered to your inbox! Previously 8:30 a.m. PT: The show did go on Sunday, September 20, for the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards with host Jimmy Kimmel doing his best in a mostly-virtual setting with nominees and winners scattered at their homes all over the globe. Silence and neutrality became untenable once social media allowed athletes to speak out unfiltered in an instant amid a national climate of rising political and cultural tensions. However, the explanation is not as simple as Trump suggests, though fans’ opinions of player protests against police brutality do appear to splinter along partisan political lines. The sports-is-back buzz wore off weeks ago. The Game 2 thriller between the LA Lakers and the Denver Nuggets - … Shlomo Sprung is a senior contributing writer at Forbes SportsMoney. Editor's note: This story was updated Monday, Aug. 3. The last two matchups between LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers and James Harden and the ... [+] Houston Rockets have been the two highest rated TV games since the beginning of the NBA restart.

“It’s like flying through turbulence,” he says. A total 1.85 million men ages 18-49 watched LeBron James scored 36 points, the most-viewed TV program in that demographic since the third episode of “The Last Dance” aired on ESPN on April 26, per the league.

Though lower than other sports like the NFL, NBA TV ratings and their recent decline in the U.S. have been highly politicized of late for better and for worse, though they seem to be doing better internationally. The NBA may have come back to TV to play the second half of its COVID-delayed 2020 season, but judging by the dismal ratings, it appears the fans have not. Whether the billionaires who own (and profit from) the teams agree with them is another matter, but many players believe the NBA’s commissioner, Adam Silver, is genuinely committed to social justice. But the distraction factor of the build-up to a crucial election is a more likely reason than a calamitous conservative boycott. You should follow him on Twitter. The NFL season starts on 10 September and protests are likely to feature. With the presidential election only two months away, the occupant of the White House appeared consumed on Tuesday by the shifting numbers and what they portend for the weeks ahead. The NBA viewership numbers, that is. But it's not a huge surprise that, coupled with a less-than-spectacular awards show and competition from the NFL (on NBC) and game 2 of the NBA Playoffs (on ESPN), ratings hit an all-time low for the annual broadcast. Athletes have rekindled it. While older fans may still think of sports as escapist entertainment, he adds, younger supporters expect companies – whether they’re retail brands or major league teams – to take strong and swift ethical stances. “This is a television show and it’s not quite the same show, the same environment, as it normally would be,” Lewis says. The PGA’s TV numbers are strong and NASCAR’s races were the third-and-fourth most-watched sporting events on the air last weekend. “Even if you’ve got all these storms around you as you fly, you have to get to that destination. While 'Schitt's Creek' made comedy history at the Emmys, the socially distanced TV ceremony was an awkward non-event.