Enhancing Viewership and Engagement: Strategies to Boost NBA

All-Star Game Ratings

Zhenyang Yin

Shanghai Shangde Experimental School, Shanghai, 201315, China

Keywords: NBA, All Star Games, Rating.

Abstract: This article examines the decline in audience ratings of the NBA all-star game, identifying key factors that

contribute to this trend. These include athletes who contribute to this trend. These include athletes’ lack of

competitive intensity, the tyke and delivery of game commentary, and the format of the slam dunk contest.

The article suggests several strategies to display more aggression and competitiveness that could enhance the

excitement of the game. People can achieve by many methods, such as inviting players and celebrities from

different countries. To attract audiences, changing the form of the game and the narrator is very important.

Additionally, selecting narrators with engaging dynamic commentary styles are also very important. Finally,

revising appalling could also attract a larger audience, by implementing these suggestions, the NBA can

improve fan engagement, create a more thrilling viewing experience, offering the audience with more varieties

of activity and ultimately boost the games’ audience ratings.

1 INTRODUCTION

NBA all-star games is first start in 1951 at Boston

garden, and the event was designed to showcase the

league’s top talent, increase fan engagement, and

promote the sport during the regular season. For

years, NBC is played between the part of east and

west, however the format changed in order to make

the game more attractive. Two player will be voted to

be the captain and they can choose their own team

members. The format does become more attractive,

but the attitude of the players are indifference,

different to 2000 or 2010, the NBA all-star games

nowadays are less aggressive and lack of defense.

The audience rating in the 2000 reach the highest in

the NBA history, and the NBA all-star games in 2023

decreased by 29 percent, which is the highest in the

NBA history. There are three reasons. Firstly, less

competitive and less entertaining. NBA all-star games

focused more on offense but not on defense, so the

games are turning to become less competitive.

Secondly, the players' enthusiasm for participation

waned. NBA all-star games in 2000 got 263 points in

total but the game in 2023 got 323 in total, which

means the defense in the NBA games is to relax.

Thirdly, streaming and changing viewer habits. The

purpose of the NBA all-star game is to start because

the audiences want to see these star players compete

with each other are offers a high level game for the

followers, however, the NBA all-star games

gradually became a business alliance. The research

shows that more aggressive games will be able to

attract more audiences (Fu, 2013). This article studies

how people can increase the audience rating of the

NBA all-star game.

2 SOLUTIONS

2.1 Making the Award Be More

Attractive

For the NBA all-star games now, the winning team

can achieve 100000 dollars and the losing

team can get 250000 dollars. However, the average

wage of the NBA league is 139000 dollars and the

average wage of the NBA all-star lineup is 48.79

million (Wu, 2017). 100000 dollars won’t motivate

the players, so the author suggests that people can

increase the bonus and add the medal for the winning

team, like the Olympic Games. In the NBA league,

all players care about their honor, all of them want to

be the best in the league or the best in NBA history.

Whether LeBron James has exceeded Michal Jordan

and become the best player in NBA history is

Yin, Z.

Enhancing Viewership and Engagement: Strategies to Boost NBA All-Star Game Ratings.

DOI: 10.5220/0014085200004942

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Applied Psychology and Marketing Management (APMM 2025), pages 119-122

ISBN: 978-989-758-791-7

119

fascinating. The set of medals can greatly motivate

the players as they want more honor and it makes

them more aggressive. Naturally, the game will be

more wonderful and attract more audiences. In

addition, some players even refuse to play the game,

in the 2024 NBA all-star games, the star of Miami

heats —— Jimmy Butler refused to play the All-star

games and said I would not play this game until my

teammate Adebayo selected to play all-star games.

This behavior distracts many audiences and many of

the fans are disappointed (Shan, 2020). This kind of

action appears because the NBA all-star games are

not attractive to these top players, so the author

suggests that the league can give some punishment if

players refuse to play games except for injuries. The

league can fine for some money or they can be

suspended for five games as this behavior is

disrespectful and provoking.

2.2 Audiences Participating Directly

Modern audiences increasingly want to be able to

participate directly in the event, rather than passively

watch. As a result, the NBA can increase fan

engagement by increasing voting sessions and

interactive activities. For example, the NBA could

allow fans to vote on the starting lineups for All-Star

teams, select lineup combinations to start each

quarter, and even vote on certain plays in real-time

during games. By giving fans more choice, they will

feel more involved, which in turn will increase their

interest in watching the game.

Beyond that, the NBA can leverage social media

and virtual reality (VR) technology to further enhance

the audience experience. Real-time interaction,

voting, and virtual live events on social media

platforms can engage younger audiences. VR

technology can provide virtual

court-side seats, so that the audience has the feeling

of being in the scene. Through VR viewing, fans can

choose their favorite viewing Angle, and even be able

to "sit" next to the All-Star players to watch the game.

This immersive experience can greatly increase fan

engagement and attract them to participate in the All-

Star Game. At the same time, for the audience

watching online, some raffles can be added, such as

giving jerseys and sneakers, which can increase the

sense of participation and enthusiasm of fans

2.3 Changing the Format of the Game

In the NBA games now, players are allowed to

compete between the east and west. However, this

kind of format cannot satisfy the audiences, so the

author thinks the format should be changed. People

can make the game a competition between the new

and old. In the match between new and old, players

can be divided into "new star team" and "veteran

team" according to experience. The "Rising Star

Team" can be composed of young players under the

age of 25 who have been selected for the All-Star

Game, including the most promising rookies and

young stars in the NBA today, such as Anthony

Edwards and LaMelo Ball. The "veteran team" is

made up of veterans over the age of 30, such as

LeBron James, Kevin Durant and other experienced

players. In this way, the confrontation between

rookies and veterans can show not only the explosive

power and passion of the young players, but also the

wisdom and experience of the veterans. Additionally,

the rookie challenge is not attractive to the audiences,

and it does cost a lot of time. All these rookies are not

well known except a few people like vimbamyamama

or Zion Williams. Other players can hardly attract an

audience. As a result, the author suggests people add

a new game to make the rookies challenge the

previous rookies. Take an example, the rookies of

2024 should challenge the rookies in 2023, because

the topic is about which class of rookies is the

strongest. This game can attract many fans who are

interested in this topic.

2.4 Voting Four Players

Another suggestion is that the audience can vote for

four players who are the strongest in the league, and

all of the four players can lead the rookies or lead

other NBA all-star players, and the four teams

compete with each other in order to get the ticket to

the final. For the awards, people can give them an

extra vote in the NBA, to increase the possibility of

them achieving the MVP award. As the MVP award

is one of the most valuable awards in the NBA league,

this award will largely motivate them.

3 OFF-FIELD FACTORS

There is also a very important problem that the NBA

All-Star Game now has too much media and

advertising intervention, and the focus of the live

broadcast also has a big problem. The current

broadcast of the All-Star Game is dominated by the

sound of commentary, rather than player

communication and the reaction of the crowd or the

bench. When the author watches a game and sees a

goal that surprises him, he looks forward to the

reaction of others to the goal, not the plain "good

APMM 2025 - International Conference on Applied Psychology and Marketing Management

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goal" of the commentary. Not only that, many fans

are also looking forward to hearing the

communication between the stars. For example, when

Klay Thompson and Curry met in Golden State,

people were curious to see what kind of

communication they would have. Also, at the All-Star

Game, people expect to hear from the world's best

athletes. Instead, the current NBA All-Star Game has

been broadcast live to the audience, but that's not

what fans want to hear. This is one of the reasons why

the current NBA ratings are declining. Another

theory is that the NBA all-star games will be

transferred to another country to play and the games

will sometimes be delayed and this caused many

disabled for the audiences. Beyond that, the audience

of NBA all-star games is decreasing because many of

the superstars are retiring, take the author, who is a

fan of Stephen Curry, if Curry retired, the author

doesn’t think he would watch NBA all-star games

unless he found another player he loves a lot.

According to the research, some top players in the

team will largely increase the audience rate of the

team. For example, after curry join the golden state

worries, the audience rate of the NBA league is about

120 percents. The author thinks it is possible for the

league to invite some retired players to attend the

NBA all-star games and compete with each other and

added some charity project to do. Take an example,

in the 2025 NBA all-star games, people can invite

Michele Jordan, Larry bird, Reggie Millar, these top

players in the previous NBA league, and made them

compete with each other like the three point games.

Each goal of these players means 1000 dollars

donation to the poverties (Teck, 2010). These player’s

shoes can also attract many fans, they really focused

on what kind of shoes do these NBA players have,

some people may watch this game because of this

reason (Shan, 2011).

The NBA celebrities game is also one method for

the league to increase some audience rate, in the 2024

NBA all-star games. The game was first held during

the 2002–03 season as part of the NBA All-Star

Weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. The NBA All-Star

Celebrity Game is played on Friday in the same host

city as the NBA All-Star Game. In 2024 celebrities

game of NBA all-star. Chinese actor Dylan Wang

played in the celebrity game and got 18 points which

break the record. He is one of the few people who was

incited to the celebrity's game and got the highest

point. Dylan Wang is an actor from China and he is

listed to be one of the most famous actors in China

(Qi, 2008). After he was invited to play the game, it

influenced a lot in China, including fans in the NBA

and the fans of Dylan Wang. As a result, inviting

actors or famous stars from different countries can

also increase the audience rating, and attract players

from all different countries. This will largely increase

the audience rating of the NBA all-star games. What’s

more, NBA all-star games can also invite brands from

different countries to join the NBA game, and people

from these countries will be attracted (Con, 2013).

Furthermore, the dunk contest and the technique

contest are becoming more and more boring, the 2023

NBA All-Star Saturday Night, which includes these

events, drew its lowest ratings and viewership in over

20 years, with a 27% drop in ratings and a 16%

decline in viewership compared to two years earlier.

So the author will discuss how to make the dunk

context more creative (Mac and Benjamin, 2024).

Firstly, the decline in audience rating is largely

because of the event fatigue, and the low effort of the

players. One of the most famous dunk contests in

NBA history Is Vince Carter, as he made an excellent

show to the audiences. However, we can hardly find

a player who can do what he has done. According to

this condition, the NBA league can select some other

professional dunker from the internet and enroll them

in the NBA all-star to make the game more attractive

(Paul, 2024).

Secondly, the NBA league should shorten the

game’s period, nowadays NBA dunk contest lasts for

1.5 to 2 hours and have 6 players, but the time dunk

is only about ten minutes much of the time is wasted

and the audiences are exhausted and they find it

boring. So cutting the time appropriately can largely

increase the time of the context will make the

audience more concentrated on the game and more

and more people will be attracted because the game is

more attractive.

Thirdly, people can also increase the creativity of

the dunk contest. For example, they may pay for some

dunk performance team to perform during break time,

or we can invite some of the celebrities and cooperate

with these players. The interaction of two different

social circles is an exciting thing (James, 2025).

Because all people want to watch things new and

interesting, no one wants to watch things that are the

same year to year. So what the NBA league needs to

do is create new topics and games to attract new

audiences and keep these old audiences (Dou, 2009).

4 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, in order to make NBA all-star games

more attractive, people should first increase the

awards in the NBA games in order to make the

players more attractive. Secondly, people need to

Enhancing Viewership and Engagement: Strategies to Boost NBA All-Star Game Ratings

121

increase the enrollment of the audience because all of

the audiences also want to be included in the game.

Furthermore, people need to change the form of the

narrator in the game as the narrator nowadays lacks

passion, what they do is only describe the game and

tell the audience about what happens. On the other

hand, people can also make the game more attractive

by inviting celebrities from different countries in

order to attract audiences from different countries.

Last but not least, the NBA dunk contest, made many

of the audience feel upset, because the time was too

long. So people can make the dunk contest as a kind

of activity during the NBA all-star games.

As a result, these are the methods that can enables

the NBA league to increase the audience rating and

make the game more attractive.

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