Nets: Success on basketball side leads to big numbers on business side

Whether or not the Nets make the playoffs, the season has to be considered a success from a basketball perspective ... and now comes word from the Nets that things are looking up from a business perspective as well.

Data provided to NetsDaily by the Brooklyn Nets show that by virtually benchmark, the team’s popularity has jumped dramatically this season. While the team remains last in the NBA in raw attendance at 14,941, even those numbers are creeping up after four straight sellouts at season’s end.

Moreover, the Nets are now seventh in road attendance at 18,085.

Here’s a sampling of the business data ...

TELEVISION:

YES Ratings are up 24 percent over last season, when the team won 28 games. An increase of that magnitude will put the Nets among the leaders in the NBA. (By comparison, the Knicks ratings are down 40 percent.)

RETAIL:

Total sales of Nets gear are up 41.9 percent over last season. (NBA teams get to keep 75 percent of local sales revenue, but share anything beyond the local market with the league’s 29 other teams.

TICKETS:

Ticket revenue is up 11% this season over last season.

Sold more than 3 times the number of full season ticket plans for the 2019-20 season, when compared to all that was sold for this current season.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

· Instagram following (@brooklynnets) has grown 28% from the beginning of the season to the present.

· Instagram video views are up 206% over last year.

· Twitter engagement (@brooklynnets) is up 110% over last year.

· Twitter video views are up 338% over last year.

In discussing the success, the Nets note there are a number of factors that have led to the success but it’s a combination of team performance and business capitalizing on that progress.

In one instance cited by the team, fans have been encouraged to to sample a Nets game this season in hopes of converting them to season ticket-holders. It’s part of the “Bet on Brooklyn” campaign. A Nets spokesman called the conversion rate “incredibly successful.”

The team’s success will be driven further if the Nets make the playoffs. Playoff games are far more profitable than their regular season counterparts. On the revenue side, of course, there’s the higher attendance but also on the expenditure side, the league picks up some costs.

Will the team be profitable for the season? That’s a whole other question.