The NBA’s TikTok Paradox

Kyle Lowry nba fans selfie phone
How many viewers is the league actually losing to social video? How much of that decline is attributable to larger behavioral changes? Photo: Cole Burston/Getty Images
Julia Alexander
September 16, 2025

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I admit I was a little taken aback when Adam Silver acknowledged last week that the NBA has become a “highlights-based sport,” as younger fans with iPhone-poisoned attention spans increasingly follow players on Instagram and TikTok instead of, you know, actually watching a game. “There is a huge amount of our content that people can essentially consume for free,” the commissioner said at a press conference following an NBA board of governors event. “So, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, you name it. … Your content is not behind a paid firewall.”

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