John Borkowski, June 12, 2012
The much anticipated 2012 NBA Finals is set to tip-off tonight featuring not only the Heat versus Thunder, but also LeBron James versus Kevin Durant. While the hype for this year’s Finals continues to build, it is important to understand the role that social media plays in this. Kenneth Wisnefski announces the following in regards to social media usage in the NBA Finals.
Social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter have been building momentum for the Finals with more fans and athletes moving the conversation online. The NBA has suffered a drop in viewership over the past few years as the likes of the NFL, MLB, and even NASCAR have continued to accumulate additional fans. Consider these statistics:
The NBA Facebook fan page has over 13 million “likes” which is significantly more than the NFL (5.6 million), NHL (2.4 million), and NFL (1.3 million), combined.
The NBA has announced they will be posting “behind the scenes” photos and videos which will cultivate this audience and draw more traffic toward watching the games.
The hype is already reaching its peak since the Finals features two superstars in LeBron James and Kevin Durant. The NBA, which has over 5.3 mi
llion followers on Twitter, has been tweeting throughout the day as this is a move to continue to bring viewers to the TV tonight.
Twitter amassed its most tweets per second (10,200) for a major sporting event in February 2012 when the New York Giants won Super Bowl 46. It is within reason to expect the NBA Finals to break this record in large part due to the battle between James and Durant.
