Another year of skills competition has come to an end.
Different from the critical reception in previous years, this year's skills competition successfully triggered a new round of discussion frenzy on social networks. The core focus was Lu Ke, the rookie quarterback who was shortlisted for the Pro Bowl for the first time.
In the quarterback passing accuracy contest, Lu Ke first missed the mark three times in a row, and then hit the target five times in a row. He won the championship title of this skills duel with a total score of 25 points. The stable, efficient, precise and sharp passing has refreshed people's understanding of quarterback passing and also redefined the skills of quarterback passing.
On social networks, the storm is surging!
But all of this is due to a beautiful accident.
On January 28, the skills competition made its debut, and reached its peak ratings amid the exciting individual battles, with 15.6 million viewers and a ratings of 7.9.
The former refers to all audiences of all ages; the latter refers to the main consumer group audiences aged 18 to 49. For advertisers, what matters is ratings; for TV stations, both sets of data have different meanings based on audience positioning.
The number of viewers and ratings of this year's skills competition both hit a new high in the new century, which increased by 21% and 17% respectively based on last year. In particular, the increase in ratings won advertising sponsorship. Although the growth figures are not as high as the number of viewers, the obvious growth of young consumer groups represents broader interests.
The results of reform and innovation have been initially reflected, which is undoubtedly good news for Roger Goodell and the majority of sponsors.
How incredible is such data? A simple horizontal comparison can be made.
Four months later, in June 2012, the NBA Finals took place.
The Oklahoma City Thunder played against the Miami Heat. The two teams played a total of five games, ending with the Heat's victory. Among these five games, the highest-rated game was Game 5, with 18 million viewers. The ratings were 10.9; the lowest rating was the third show, with 15.5 million viewers and a rating of 8.8.
Among the annual ratings of all television programs in North America, Game 5 of the NBA Finals ranked 17th and Game 3 ranked 23rd.
In this list, the Super Bowl stands out with 110 million viewers and a ratings of 47.0, easily winning the championship and unrivaled; in the National League finals, the San Francisco 49ers narrowly lost to the New York Giants, with 6,000 With four million viewers and a ratings of 33.6, it ranked second in the year.
In addition, the San Francisco 49ers defeated the New Orleans Saints in the divisional round, ranking fourth in the year.
Overall, the top ten are all NFL games. Game 5 of the NBA Finals is the highest-ranked basketball game, ranking 17th. The two aspects of viewership and ratings are in sharp contrast.
In the end, the NFL's Pro Bowl ratings ranked 21st, ahead of the third game of the NBA Finals; while the NFL's skills game ranked 26th, only inferior to the NBA Finals, completely beating the rest of the NBA. All games. This is popularity, this is strength, this is dominance!
By the way, this year's NBA All-Star Weekend gathered stars such as Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry, with a final audience of 9 million viewers and a ratings of 5.2. The annual ranking did not even make it into the top fifty.
Therefore, the same is true for the Pro Bowl and All-Star Weekend every year. In terms of ratings and popularity, the NFL is far ahead; in terms of topics and promotions, the NBA covers the world.
Today seems to be no exception.
After the skills competition ended, there was a flurry of discussion on Twitter and Facebook, but it never really became popular. Of course, it has made great progress compared to previous years, but it is still not comparable to the Slam Dunk Contest and the Three-Point Contest, let alone making history with "That Catch 3" and "Hail Mary, 14-To-88". hot topics.
The same goes for the Pro Bowl matchup the next day.
As the third quarterback, Lu Ke came on the scene as the main quarterback in the third quarter and played the entire quarter, scoring a passing touchdown, a running touchdown and a free kick. Achievements, outstanding performance.
But after entering the fourth quarter, the American League relied on the wonderful performance of Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall to easily defeat the National League and win the game with a disparity of "59:41". This year's Pro Bowl champion, and Brandon also received the honor of Pro Bowl MVP.
As for the number of viewers and ratings, both have achieved good results and have improved compared to last year. However, the popularity of the topic on social networks has always been lukewarm and has not spread widely.
The All-Star Party before the Super Bowl came to an end quietly.
For the New England Patriots and New York Giants, their highlight moment is coming; for other players and teams, the offseason has officially begun, with layoffs, negotiations, and renewals. Contract renewal, draft selection, training training, vacation vacation...all the work began to unfold in an orderly manner.
If this continues, then Goodell's plan will still not be successful, and the commercial promotion will not be able to achieve the expected radiation effect - attracting the attention of more ordinary viewers, amateur viewers and non-staff viewers, and further expanding the scope of rugby. mass base.
But a little accident happened.
January 30th, the day after the Pro Bowl.
Stephen Curry reposted a YouTube video from the NFL’s official account on his Facebook, and wrote, “Isn’t this guy’s basketball talent particularly outstanding? Not long ago, I was in the three-point duel. I lost to him in the first round. Now it seems that I am not the only one."
The protagonist of the YouTube video is none other than Lu Ke, who completely intercepted nine passes in the skills competition, including the first three misses, the subsequent four consecutive accurate shots, and the deviation and subsequent make-up. , showing the entire process of Lu Ke winning the skills competition championship.
There are not many similar articles, similar emotions, and similar videos in 2012, but there are also quite a few. What's more, Curry is now just one of many players in the NBA. Not to mention top superstars, he is not even well-known. He is still working hard for his main position and fighting injuries.
After the Facebook text was posted, Curry didn't think much about it.
Later, a senior basketball fan watched the video and wrote a reply seriously, "I think it will be difficult for him to make a difference in basketball games..." and then analyzed it from various technical angles, even down to Every pass, every shot, and then explained in the scientific way of physics and the way basketball is played, proves a point.
In total, I wrote nearly 500 words eloquently. I couldn't write one message, but I thoughtfully divided it into three messages, clearly listing "first, second, and third", as if this was not on Facebook. Instead of replying once, I wrote an academic paper.
If this fan is just a mindless troll, making complaints casually, then other netizens are just joining in the fun, and even if they troll each other, it is probably just useless scolding; but the other party gave the analysis so seriously, and even showed In order to study academically, this is worth savoring.
Two days later, when Curry logged into Facebook again, the message he posted had already received more than 300 replies, more than half of which were directed at the senior fan. This made Curry excitedly I started browsing, almost to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep.
Curry even dialed Lu Ke's phone number, and the two chatted and discussed directly.
Subsequently, Curry also wrote a reply very seriously, refuting the opponent's point of view, and putting forward his own point of view, analyzing in detail the technical adjustments of Lu Ke's first three passes; and attached the video recording of the original filming of the advertisement , proving that Lu Ke’s three-point shooting skills are definitely not inferior.
Now, things are getting lively.
In just seventy-two hours, Curry's Facebook page received more than 6,000 replies, which was too much to browse through, and the wavelength of influence is still expanding.
Many people took screenshots of the entire discussion, attached the video, and forwarded it to other social platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, and photo walls; in addition, some people forwarded it to professional fan forums, both for basketball and rugby. , everyone participates and joins the discussion.
In fact, many professional players played multiple sports such as football, basketball, and baseball in high school and college. Although the skills and confrontations of these sports are different, they still have different similarities before entering the profession. Few, but excellent athletic talent can often complete all-round coverage.
Gradually, the discussion broke away from the scope of senior professional fans, and more and more fans began to join the discussion one after another - even if they couldn't tell a reason, they were willing to express their opinions, "Suitable? Not suitable?" "
The real turning point came from a football fan named Ruth Gray.
To most people, she is extremely unfamiliar, not an Internet celebrity, nor a senior fan; but for Lu Ke, he remembers this person clearly. She was the lobby manager of the St. Francis Hotel. When Lu Ke went to the hotel When meeting Under Armor to discuss cooperation, Ruth showed enough cordiality and enthusiasm that she even asked for an autograph.
This is the first female fan that Lu Ke has met face to face.
This time, Ruth re-edited a video, deleted the first three passes that missed the target, deleted the eighth pass that missed the target, completely connected the five passes that hit the target, and uploaded it to YouTube above, and then, amidst the hustle and bustle of topics, the video became the focus——
Hit the red heart with five critical hits in a row! Refresh your knowledge of football passing accuracy!
