Chapter 676: A Critical and Commercial Success
Another year of the skills challenge has come to an end.
Unlike previous years, where it was a commercial success but a critical failure, this year's skills challenge successfully triggered a new wave of discussion on social networks. The central focus was the rookie quarterback who made the Pro Bowl for the first time: Lu Ke.
In the quarterback precision passing competition, Lu Ke first missed the target three times in a row, then hit the bullseye five times in a row, winning the skills challenge title with a total score of twenty-five points. His performance, which started poorly and ended strong, along with his stable, efficient, precise, and sharp passing, redefined people's understanding of quarterback passing and the skills of a passing quarterback.
The social networks were buzzing with excitement!
But all of this stemmed from a beautiful accident.
On January 28, the skills challenge made a dazzling debut and reached a viewership peak with 15.6 million viewers and a 7.9 rating.
The former refers to all viewers of all ages, while the latter refers to the main consumer group of viewers between eighteen and forty-nine years old. For advertisers, the rating is important, while for TV stations, both sets of data have different meanings depending on the target audience.
This year's skills challenge's viewership and ratings both set new highs for the new century, increasing by 21% and 17% respectively compared to last year. The significant increase in ratings, in particular, attracted the attention of advertisers. Although the increase in numbers was not as large as the viewership, the clear growth of the young consumer group represented a greater potential for profit.
The reforms and innovations had initially shown results, which was undoubtedly good news for Roger Goodell and the major sponsors.
To see how incredible these numbers are, we can make a simple comparison.
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, with the Heat winning. Among these five games, the one with the highest ratings was the fifth game, with 18 million viewers and a 10.9 rating. The one with the lowest ratings was the third game, with 15.5 million viewers and an 8.8 rating.
In the overall annual viewership rankings of all TV shows in North America, the fifth game of the NBA Finals ranked seventeenth, while the third game ranked twenty-third.
In this ranking, the Super Bowl was far ahead of the competition with 110 million viewers and a 47.0 rating, easily winning the top spot with no rivals. The NFC Championship game, where the San Francisco 49ers narrowly lost to the New York Giants, had 64 million viewers and a 33.6 rating, ranking second for the year.
In addition, the San Francisco 49ers' divisional game against the New Orleans Saints ranked fourth for the year.
Overall, the top ten were all NFL games. The fifth game of the NBA Finals was the highest-ranking basketball game, at seventeenth place. There was a stark contrast between the viewership and ratings data.
In the end, the NFL Pro Bowl ranked twenty-first, ahead of the third game of the NBA Finals, while the NFL skills challenge ranked twenty-sixth, only slightly behind the NBA Finals and completely crushing all other NBA games. This is popularity. This is dominance. This is the top dog!
It's worth mentioning that this year's NBA All-Star Weekend, which brought together stars like Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry, had a final viewership of 9 million and a rating of 5.2. It didn't even make it into the top fifty of the annual rankings.
So, every year the Pro Bowl and All-Star Weekend are the same. In terms of viewership and popularity, the NFL is far ahead, while in terms of topics and promotion, the NBA has a global reach.
Today seemed to be no exception.
After the skills challenge ended, there was a discussion on Twitter and Facebook, but it never truly became a sensation. Of course, it was a huge improvement from previous years, but it still couldn't compare to the Slam Dunk Contest or the Three-Point Contest, not to mention hot topics that made history, such as "The Catch 3" or "Hail Mary, 14-To-88."
The same was true for the Pro Bowl showdown the next day.
As the third-string quarterback, Lu Ke came on as the main quarterback in the third quarter, played the entire quarter, and had one passing touchdown, one rushing touchdown, and one field goal. His performance was outstanding.
But after entering the fourth quarter, the AFC, with the help of Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall's excellent performance, easily crushed the NFC with a score of "59:41" and won this year's Pro Bowl championship. Brandon also won the Pro Bowl MVP honor.
As for viewership and ratings, both achieved impressive results and improved compared to last year, but the hot topics on social networks remained lukewarm and did not spread on a large scale.
The All-Star party before the Super Bowl ended quietly.
For the New England Patriots and the New York Giants, their moment in the spotlight was coming. For other players and teams, the offseason officially began. There were player cuts, negotiations, contract renewals, drafts, training, and vacations. All the work began to unfold in an orderly manner.
If things continued like this, Goodell's plan would still not have succeeded. The commercial promotion still wouldn't have achieved the desired ripple effect of attracting more casual viewers, amateur viewers, and non-football viewers to further expand the fan base of American football.
But a small accident happened.
On January 30, the day after the Pro Bowl ended.
Stephen Curry reposted a YouTube video from the official NFL account on his Facebook page and wrote, "Is this guy's basketball talent also exceptional? Not long ago, I lost to him in a three-point contest. Now it seems I'm not the only one."
The protagonist of the YouTube video was Lu Ke. It was a complete clip of his nine passes in the skills challenge, including the first three misses, the following four accurate ones, and the one deviation and the subsequent recovery. It showed the entire process of Lu Ke winning the skills challenge championship.
Similar articles, similar sentiments, and similar videos were not uncommon in 2012, but they weren't everywhere either. What's more, at this time, Curry was just one of many NBA players. He was not a top superstar and was not even a household name. He was still struggling for a starting position and fighting injuries.
After posting the message on Facebook, Curry didn't think much of it.
Then, a seasoned basketball fan watched the video and wrote a serious reply, "I don't think he will be able to accomplish anything in a basketball game..." He then analyzed it from various technical perspectives, even going into the details of each pass and throw. He used physics and the way basketball is played to prove his point.
Overall, he wrote nearly five hundred words. One message was not enough, so he considerately divided it into three messages, clearly listing "First, Second, Third," as if he was writing an academic paper instead of a Facebook reply.
If this fan were just a brainless hater who was just spewing nonsense, other netizens would just join in the fun and probably just hurl insults at each other without any substance. But the fact that this person gave a serious analysis and even showed a scholarly attitude made it worth a closer look.
Two days later, when Curry logged into Facebook again, his post had more than three hundred replies. More than half of them were directed at the seasoned fan, which made Curry browse through them excitedly, to the point of forgetting to eat or sleep.
Curry even called Lu Ke, and the two of them chatted and discussed it.
Later, Curry also wrote a serious reply, refuting the other party's point of view and putting forward his own. He analyzed the technical adjustments of Lu Ke's first three passes in detail and attached the video of their commercial shoot to prove that Lu Ke's three-point shooting skills were definitely not inferior.
This made things interesting.
In just seventy-two hours, Curry's Facebook post received more than six thousand replies, too many to read. The wave of influence was still expanding.
Many people took screenshots of the entire discussion and, along with the video, reposted it on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms. In addition, some people reposted it on professional fan forums, both for basketball and American football. Everyone participated and joined the discussion.
In fact, many professional athletes played multiple sports in high school and college, such as American football, basketball, and baseball. Although the skills and opposition in these sports are different, before entering the professional world, they have many things in common, and excellent athletic talent can often cover all of them.
Gradually, the discussion moved beyond the scope of seasoned and professional fans, and more and more fans began to join in. Even if they couldn't say anything intelligent, they were happy to express their opinions, "Suitable? Not suitable?"
The real turning point came from a football fan named Ruth Gray.
To most people, she was a complete stranger, not an influencer or a seasoned fan. But Lu Ke remembered her clearly. She was the lobby manager of the St. Francis Hotel. When Lu Ke went to the hotel to meet Under Armour to discuss a partnership, Ruth showed enough kindness and enthusiasm and even asked for an autograph.
She was the first female fan Lu Ke met in person.
This time, Ruth re-edited a video, deleting the first three passes that missed the bullseye and the eighth pass that was off-center. She connected the five passes that hit the bullseye and uploaded it to YouTube. Then, in the midst of the bustling topic, the video became the focal point.
Five consecutive hits on the bullseye! Redefining the understanding of football passing accuracy!
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