Silver: Interest in NBA not lacking despite bad TV numbers

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league's TV ratings being down isn't due to a lack of interest in the sport.

"If you look at other data points, in terms of our business, for example, we've just come off the last two years of the highest attendance in the history of this league," Silver told The Athletic's Joe Vardon and Sam Amick. "We're at a point where our social media audience is at the highest of any league and continuing to grow exponentially. So, it's not a lack of interest in this game."

NBA viewership was down 19% year-over-year as of the NBA Cup semifinal Saturday, according to Sports Media Watch.

Silver said he doesn't see this as an NBA issue and instead a common trend among all cable television. Men's NCAA basketball is down 21%, women's NCAA basketball is down 38%, and the NHL is down 28%, Sports Media Watch reported.

The commissioner said the league is at the "inflection point where people are watching more programming on streaming than they are in traditional television."

The NBA's new TV deal, which begins next year, includes streaming-only service Amazon Prime, ESPN, ABC, and NBC. Prime gives the NBA the chance to try new things to appeal to its audience.

"As we move to streaming service, putting aside how the actual game is played on the floor, it's going to allow us from a production standpoint to do all kinds of things that you can't do through traditional television," said Silver. "All kinds of new functionality, all kinds of new options and screens that are available."

He added, "The vast majority of people consume us through media, not in person. So we have to pay a lot of attention."