On the 30th of last month, the Goyang Gymnasium where the 2022-2023 season SKT Adot Professional Basketball regular league 4th round match between Goyang Carrot and Seoul Samsung was held. When Carrot Kim Jin-yu’s 3-point shot led to an air ball, a sigh came from the audience. Carrot Jeon Seong-hyun’s record of 76 successive three-pointers was also stopped on the same day. Son Mo, a basketball fan in his 30s, said, “It’s too futile if a 3-point shot becomes an air ball in a chance situation. I wonder who will visit the basketball court often.”
The basketball animation ‘The First Slam Dunk’ is gaining popularity by surpassing 2 million viewers, but the popularity of Korean Professional Basketball League (KBL) is hardly recovering. Looking at the distribution of reservations by age (based on CGV) of 2 million viewers, 18.7% in their 20s and 38.6% in their 30s. This is even more regrettable considering the fact that people of all ages are enjoying slam dunk.
These days, when channels are diversified, audience ratings cannot represent all awareness, but it is true that it is a part that can directly confirm the decline in popularity. The professional basketball viewership, which was previously not as high as 0.2%, fell to 0.19% in the 2018-2019 season and did not recover to the 0.2% line, and fell every time during the five seasons, and is now down to 0.10% in the 2022-2023 season. Even the number of spectators who suffered the most direct damage due to the Corona 19 incident has hardly recovered the 3,000 mark.
Of course, the deterioration in skills itself is the primary cause of the decline in fans’ interest. Achieving good results in international competitions is one of the ways to create stars and naturally increase the popularity of domestic leagues, but Korean basketball has not participated in the Olympics since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
After winning the gold medal at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, it is difficult to expect a gold medal because of competitors such as Iran and China. SPOTV commentator Lee Kyu-seop, a former national basketball team member, explained, 슬롯사이트 “It is difficult to say that professional basketball itself this season is at a lower level than in the past, but as time goes by, it is a concern that the dependence on foreign players such as the US and the Philippines is growing more than domestic players.”
However, it is pointed out inside and outside the basketball world that more efforts are needed to capture the hearts of fans than skills. Lee Jeong-hak, professor at the College of Physical Education at Kyung Hee University, said, “Marketing is to increase the value of the sluggish core product (competitive power) by using additional products (public relations, etc.).” Various attempts are needed, such as giving discounts to customers who have tickets and goods (fan products) when purchasing games. Also, as retro styles that stimulate emotions are popular recently, stars from the days of the basketball court should also use them.”