The NBA Finals begin today, and Google has released some new data on NBA-related engagement, and what fans are searching for in relation to the season’s penultimate match-up.
Which, if you watch the NBA, you may have noticed within games too. Google’s got a new partnership with the NBA, which sees the Search giant sharing top trending search terms, which broadcast presenters have been discussing as part of the coverage.
Though most of the data that Google has shared on these trends has been pretty underwhelming.
For example:
- “Search interest in ‘the NBA Finals’ is at an all-time high in Indiana and Oklahoma” (well, yeah, neither team has made the finals for a long time, so it makes sense that their fans would be interested.)
- “Searches for ‘when was the last time the Pacers went to the finals’ and ‘when was the last time OKC went to the finals’ spiked +150% in the U.S. over the past week (again, neither has made the finals for a long time, so a pretty obvious stat)
I guess, there’s not a heap of amazing insight that can be gleaned from relative search trends, but most of the notes like this from Google are pretty obvious.
It might be better if it showed related shopping activity on Google Shopping, or even individual player searches, showing who people think is going to be the most important factor in the series.
To be fair, Google is sharing more specific and customizable data insights on its dedicated NBA Finals Trends mini-site.
So it does have this data as well, if you want to dig in and get more insight on what people are most interested in.
In addition to this, Google’s also shared a map of relative search interest in the two finals teams:
Mostly, you’re not going to find any real surprises here, but it is worth noting the rising interest in the NBA finals, as well as the WNBA season (which recently kicked off), which could help you in your related promotions.
You can read more about Google’s NBA search trends here.
