Among the four major North American sports, the NBA's viewers are the youngest, putting the league in a great position to continue its growth.
Sports Media Watch and Paulsen report the NBA had the lowest median age of viewers of the four major sports in their championship series (h/t Awful Announcing). The league's median age was about 40 years old for the seven games of the classic Heat-Spurs Finals.
According to the numbers, nearly 30 percent of the viewers were in the 18-34 age group while a little bit more than a third were 35-54 years old.
These numbers show a large demographic change that could affect the future of the sport. The league's viewers still have lots of time to spend their disposble income on the league and on its advertisers.
Compare those numbers to baseball. MLB's six-game World Series had a median age of around 54 years old. About half of their viewers wer 55-99 years old. That is a suggestion that baseball is struggling to attract new viewers and could be in big trouble as participation in that sport dies down.
It does confirm the NBA is connecting with a new audience that skews younger and those fans could put the sport in a great position in the crowded sports marketplace in the coming years. The league arguably has the second most popular sport in the United States — and possibly the world.
