Adam Silver: ‘There’s never been more engagement in the NBA than there is at this moment’

As the halfway point of the NBA regular season approaches, it’s safe to say that one of the main narratives surrounding the first half of the season has been about television ratings. Particularly, why viewership this year doesn’t seem to be as strong as in year’s past.

That conversation is not lost on NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who presented some reasons why NBA viewership is down this season while painting a more optimistic outlook during an appearance on Shaquille O’Neal’s The Big Podcast on Wednesday.

Adam Silver on the NBA’s viewership issues:

“There’s never been more engagement in the NBA than there is at this moment.” pic.twitter.com/0BTZz6hk0p

— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) January 16, 2025

“There’s a lot of talk about viewership, whether it’s up or down,” Shaq began. “I’d like to hear your point of view of that. And do you think we will ever get consistently the same views like we got on Christmas Day?”

“I think the fact is, part of the reason for the change in the new television deals is that one of the advantages of the NBA is that we have a very young audience,” Silver said. “An audience that advertisers like, an audience that influencers like, but they’re not watching as much traditional television that they historically did.

“Young people, they’re watching an enormous amount of screen time,” Silver continued, “but not traditional television. It’s social media, certainly streaming services, YouTube.”

“Your views on YouTube cut-ups of games get like ten million [viewers] by the next morning,” TNT host Adam Lefkoe chimed in. “This younger generation is watching the ten-minute version and a crazy amount. Like, those numbers are staggering.”

“It’s a great point,” Silver replied. “By almost any measure, there’s never been more engagement in the NBA than there is at this moment. No time in our history. And I’m not just talking about globally. I mean, when you look at it globally, absolutely, it’s not even close. But even domestically, people are consuming our games in other forms. It doesn’t mean that it isn’t part of my job to find ways to get our fans or potential fans to watch more games live. I think that’s very important for the health of the league.

“Part of what I think we can do better is not just tell the larger stories about player’s and their lives and off-the-floor and all that, but the nitty gritty. What YouTube, streaming, all these different channels allow us to do…allow fans to better understand the game. ”

Silver brings up a lot of key points in this discussion. One, that young people simply consumer sports differently than the older demographic. That is primarily through vessels like YouTube and social media, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in the game.

But two, and perhaps more importantly for the league’s long-term future, Silver acknowledges that these platforms have great potential to help grow the game and engage young fans on a deeper level about basketball. Silver goes on to cite an example about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s change in play style this season. How the Bucks’ star player has bucked the trend of shooting more three pointers, and has instead been playing inside at a higher rate. That type of “nitty gritty” is difficult to discuss on traditional television but easy to discuss on a podcast or in a YouTube video.

Sports leagues go through peaks and valleys when it comes to viewership. Not even ten years ago, many people were having this same conversation about declining NFL viewership, and we all know how that turned out.

The NBA is in a transitional period in both the style of play seen on the court and in the league’s superstar players. Silver seems to be taking the 30,000-foot view of things rather than overreacting to one down year in viewership.

And that perspective is probably well-founded, considering the league just signed record-setting $76 billion media rights agreements that begin next season.