what else was on at the same time?

Not to make excuses but I'm surprised it did that well really. Essendon vs Crows AFL Round 1 was on at the same time as was I think the test cricket Aus vs South Africa and there was probably a rugby game on at the same time too.

Did Adelaide United have a game on? (That's right a soccer team called United. Imagine that).

United, Crows and Sixers all playing at the same time

And nobody gave a shit about the Adelaide Thirtyshitters.

In other news, the sun came up today.

This series deserves better. I dont care about what else is on. This series deserves at least 50k each game.

It needs to be followed, absorbed and entrenched in the sporrs media market. It has a strong place to be there. The series has been great. Australian media has no clue. Give this sport some love and more people will watch. So many stories, yet hardly any thing said about it.

Free to air direct competition:

7 - AFL live 493,000
ABC - Gardening Australia 384,000 followed by Harrow 473,000
9 - NRL live 396,000

These were programs I found listed in top 20, 5 cities aggregate, that were scheduled in the 7:30-9:30 time slot in Sydney on Friday night. Taken from tvtonight.com.au

worth noting the Adelaide AFL viewing figures were apparently down on last year, even though Adelaide were playing in last night's game

Yeah it feels weird to say we have such a great grand final series but less than say 75k Australians are even watching it.

Fascinated how many eyes are watching in NZ with super rugby on at same time

Its interesting that the AFL and NRL, and maybe even the A-League get thier grand final all to themselves without any real competition. In fact during the AFL and NRL grand finals, other channels put rubbish programs on as they know they will take a massive ratings hit going against them.

Its a shame the NBL not only doesn't get that luxury, but its made worse because its going up against pretty much ALL the big sporting competitions at the same time this time of year.

Maybe they should re-think how the grand final is scheduled after all. You cant win,but going up against this much other sporting events at the same time is ridiculous. Its absolutely had a negative affect on the series. Living in Perth, ive heard basically nothing on the GF in the media at all unless its from the NBL facebook page, and that's sad. This lack of coverage has really hurt their ability to get ratings.

I agree Haz there is just too much going on at the moment sports wise especially here in SA with the footy starting up again.

I said in another thread I'd like to see the NBL start the season about a month earlier. Yes it means going up against AFL/NRL finals in September but I think that's preferable to the GF series being swamped by AFL/NRL Round 1 hype.

Yep, I remember that post, Zodiac. I initially disagreed with that as I thought the NBL would actually get no hype whatsoever when they start their season, going up against the AFL and NRL finals. But in hindsight I reckon it would make more sense doing it that way. Fact is, the NBL will never get a good run in the media anyway.

Would now probably prefer a slow start to the NBL season and finish on a high with a well covered GF, than how it is now, with the GF almost invisible.

Or perhaps they just need to reduce the length of the season by a week...

It's harder to do now though with those two weeks lost during the season to FIBA qualifying games. If they went back to playing more midweek games could be done but TV doesn't like those games hence the sandwiched Fri-Sun schedule.

There has been whispers that Channel 7 might be getting involved next season and as the ABC have given the NBL the finger with delaying Friday night games to 12:30 am now and SBS not having much pull moving to 7mate might give the league the exposure it deserves.

I reckon getting Demetriou on the board and his history of working closely with Channel 7 also strengthens those whispers.

"a well covered GF, than how it is now, with the GF almost invisible"

I don't think this year's series can be described as invisible. I think it's more as described by a poster above. It's there for people to watch if they want to but most people prefer to watch the wealth of other sports on offer at this time of the year.

Even so, how well viewed was last year's series, relative to this year? Have you compared the ratings figures?

The crowds to this year's series have been excellent, I thought. The 57K viewing figure for last Sunday's game on Foxtel was touted as almost the record for NBL on Foxtel. The Adelaide newspaper and radio coverage has been good, with daily stories. I don't watch evening news bulletins so I can't comment on visibility there.

I suspect NBL will be pretty happy with this year's series, its coverage and some of the viewing figures.

I watched a sports bulletin on ABC24 on Saturday morning, and it was a comprehensive sports report, covering many sports played on Friday night. Except for the NBL that is. That got ignored.

Was also ignored on Weekend Sunrise too. I suspect that if there wasnt so much sport on then the NBL might have been covered? Agree that the coverage is there is you look for it, but I want it to be in everyone's faces, like it is with cricket, football, soccer.

Thats not to say it didnt get mentioned in other reports, but the two that I watched failed to mention it.

Personally i think the Fox ratings have been very good, all things considering, and with NBL.tv a very reliable alternative now.

the ABC have given the NBL the finger with delaying Friday night games to 12:30

Because they were showing games earlier in the season at an earlier timeslot around 10:30pm, around the time the playoffs started out to 12:30am timeslot.

...but I want it to be in everyone's faces, like it is with cricket, football, soccer.

I am realistic. Ok maybe the league wont ever get shoved in peoples faces like AFL etc, but it could definately have had a lot more coverage than its currently had. Especially since there are 2 new teams in key markets with ideal timezones. And no Perth or NZ being one of them for the first time in 8 years makes for a refreshing change.

Intetest should be higher IMO. Not AFL levels but higher than what we've been given.