Why The NBA’s Social Media Dominance Is So Important

01/31/2023 Why The NBA’s Social Media Dominance Is So Important

By: Matthew Cahill

The NBA recently surpassed 75 million followers on Instagram last week, reinforcing the fact that it is by far the biggest sport on social media. When looking across Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok, the NBA has more followers than the MLB, NFL, and NHL across all of them. This digital dominance is part of a long game that the association expects is going to lead to more traditional success in the long run.

Online, you might think that the NBA blows the MLB out of the water in terms of overall popularity, but television viewership and annual revenue say otherwise. The 2022 NBA Finals saw an average of 12.4 million viewers this past year, which is continuing its upswing after a major dip during the 2020 championship series. This mark is just about on par with the MLB who saw 11.78 million viewers during the World Series. When looking at revenue, it’s reported that the NBA generated around $10 billion while the MLB brought in about $10.8 billion. So the NBA is actually still behind the MLB depending on how you look at it. While that may be the case for now, all indications point towards the NBA pulling ahead in the years to come. 

As of 2017, the age of the average MLB fan in 2022 was 57, which is five years older than the average fan at the start of the millennium. When taking into consideration that youth baseball has been struggling with growth for years at this point, the combination of the rising age with declining youth involvement is especially concerning. The average NBA fan on the other hand is just 42, and their keen sense of social media is likely going to drive this number even lower in the future. 

Almost since the inception of the social media age, the NBA has been eager to jump on all of the emerging platforms that have taken over our daily lives and have tailored content specifically for each site. But it doesn’t stop with just official content. In an age where media empires are extremely strict about who has the right to use and repurpose their exclusive content, the NBA has always taken a laissez-faire approach to who can use their media. Instead of striking down and deleting videos online that contain unlicensed highlights and interviews, the league decided they would let this content live online as a form of free promotion. With the freedom to create, tons of everyday fans like JxmyHighroller and Mike Korzemba have amassed millions of subscribers on YouTube and have done wonders for getting the game of basketball in front of new eyes. While the MLB has gradually eased up on letting fans use their content, it’s going to be tough to catch up to the NBA which has about a ten-year head start. 

So, even though the NBA and MLB are still neck and neck in terms of revenue and eyes on the tv, basketball seems to be in a much better position going forward, while baseball is going to have to learn how to quickly adjust, or else they’ll simply be left behind.

 

Photo: Adam Hunger / Getty Images