“We recognize that, in some ways, the decline of cable has disproportionately impacted the NBA,” Silver told Kendall Baker of Yahoo Sports AM. “Our young audience isn’t subscribing to cable, and those fans aren’t finding our games.
But there are still roughly 65 million homes in America that are consuming sports in a very traditional way, and even more people on network TV. Is that declining? Yes. Is that going away anytime soon? I don’t believe so. So we want to be on all of those platforms.”
It’s 2023. Business strategies are based on growth and the monetization of growth now. The olden business strategy of exclusivity, lifestyle branding or whatever this nickel dime monetization cable companies are based on, don’t work because of the wide accessibility of content with the internet. The game changed from monetizing the local fans, to how to cast as wide of a net as possible because that is the current effective strategy.
Their ineptitude is so clear: there aren’t any reasons for blackout games today. You want folks to watch the bumfucknowhere team if they can. Then you can sell them merchandise which was previously not as feasible. For example, this is how the NBA is popular in China: folks there can buy NBA merch. You want locals or non-locals to tune in for free and then watch the ads from partners of the NBA also.