NFL Excuses Run Out After Ratings Declines Continue

[Eleazar]

NFL's Litany of Excuses Runs Out After Ratings Fall for Second Year

By Lucas Shaw
Bloomberg.com
November 2, 2017, 11:30 AM CDT



TV networks are running out of excuses for the dwindling popularity of the National Football League.

They blamed the election for ratings declines last year, and hurricanes for a soft week one in September. Protests during the national anthem, and President Donald Trump’s criticism of the league, have faded from the headlines.

Advertisers are starting to believe a different explanation: the viewers aren’t coming back. Audiences are down an average 7 percent from a year ago through the first eight weeks of the season, excluding last Monday. That’s on top of a decrease of about 8 percent last season that spurred numerous changes in the broadcasts, from shorter commercials to better matchups earlier in the year.

“There’s just not as many people watching TV the way they used to watch TV,” said Jeremy Carey, managing director of Optimum Sports, a sports marketing agency. “It’s going to be an issue for advertisers when they can’t reach a large-scale audience the way they have.”

With CBS Corp., 21st Century Fox Inc. and Walt Disney Co. set to report earnings in the next few days, analysts are bound to raise questions. These companies have used the popularity of the games to extract additional fees from cable operators, promote other shows on their networks and sell lots of commercials. Pro football games drew about $3.5 billion in ad spending last year, including the postseason, according to SMI Media Inc.

Media companies have spent billions of dollars on the right to air football games, which had been immune to the erosion of viewership for other TV programming. Audiences for TV networks have diminished for years as the growing popularity of online alternatives Netflix and YouTube and the availability of most shows on-demand have reduced the appeal of dramas and comedies. Live TV, like sports, was supposed to be immune, but that theory looks highly questionable now.

Ratings for the NFL suggest the same societal trends are now affecting the league, even if the declines aren’t as dramatic. The drop in game viewership ranges from 5 percent for NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” to 11 percent for the CBS Sunday package. “Monday Night Football,” on Disney’s ESPN, has attracted more fans this year than a year ago, but the numbers are still down from 2015.

Viewership of the four main broadcast networks fell 8.7 percent last year, and 12 percent among adults 18 to 49, an important demographic for advertisers.

CBS’s 11 percent slump for NFL games is the steepest of the networks. Its parent company, which reports earnings after the close Thursday, is more vulnerable than rivals to the trend because the vast majority of its earnings come from the broadcast network. The declines at CBS reinforce a complaint that has gotten louder and louder in recent weeks: The league got greedy in adding the Thursday night game on broadcast.

Reserving top games for Thursday night robbed other time periods of good match-ups. After a nosedive in ratings at “Monday Night Football” last season, the league has scheduled better games for that time period, further damaging Sunday afternoon.

“Ratings declines on both general entertainment and NFL programming could be the single biggest point of focus for investors this quarter, and we’re not sure what media companies can say about the health and tone of the ad market to assuage fears,” Steven Cahall, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a note last month.

Viewership is dropping fast among people under 54 -- a key demographic for advertisers -- and even faster among those 18 to 34. Audiences for games on CBS, NBC and Fox have slid at least 10 percent among that younger cohort.

Advertisers aren’t abandoning the NFL, one of the only places they can still reach more than 10 million people at once. But they are growing concerned. John Schnatter, who appears in TV spots on behalf of his Papa John’s Pizza International Inc., laid into the league on a conference call this week, blaming the ratings for his company’s slow revenue growth and calling for the league to put an end to player protests.

Networks and other advertisers identify a wide range of reasons for the NFL’s struggles. The league has overexposed itself by making highlights available on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Snapchat. Identifiable stars like Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers have either retired or gotten hurt. The quality of play has deteriorated. Player protests and concussions have driven away some fans.

Some executives argue viewership of the league has still improved over the long term while dropping for every other show. Yet the amount of time people have spent watching football this season is at the lowest point since 2011, back when there were fewer televised games, according to Mike Mulvihill, Fox Sports’ head of research.

“The cumulative effect of everything happening in the world at large is having an impact on NFL viewership,” Mulvihill said. “ The league was defying the laws of gravity.”

[Hoover]

Yeah, but its more of a viewing behavior issue, its not really just an NFL issue.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Carr4MVP

The ratings hit a peak a couple of years ago but the real decline lies in how boring the games are getting. The product is suffering. Too many bullshit flags, defenses are castrated and the games take forever.

False

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

False

NFL games are a flag fest. PI is called too much and nobody knows what the **** a catch is.

[BigCatDaddy]

It has it worts but football is still the best sport to watch. I only turn it off when football games become political TV shows. Play the games, focus on the games and collect big dollars. Hard to **** up but they do their best.

[Eleazar]

Ratings way down for NFL opener
Posted by Michael David Smith

September 7, 2018, 10:04 AM EDT



The NFL’s opening Thursday night game got disappointing TV ratings for a league that is battling perceptions of rapidly declining popularity.

NBC announced a 13.4 overnight rating for the Super Bowl champion Eagles’ last-second win over the Falcons. That was way down from the 14.6 for Chiefs-Patriots last year, which itself was way down from a 16.5 for Panthers-Broncos the year before, which itself was way down from a 17.7 for Steelers-Patriots the year before that.

Are there extenuating circumstances? Sure. Kickoff was delayed by almost an hour because of thunderstorms in Philadelphia, and the game was a sloppy, penalty-filled mess.

But there are only so many times that the NFL can spin its ratings decline as being the result of extenuating circumstances. Whatever the reasons, the league’s television ratings are not the juggernaut they once were. The NFL still gets national television ratings that any other sport (or, for that matter, any entertainment program) would kill for, but it no longer gets the kinds of television ratings it got a few years back.

-----

Last night’s game is not only down from last year, but 2016, 2015 and 2014 – all of which saw successive declines.

It was the worst total audience an opening game has had since 2009.

[Mecca]

Just remember, it's an indictment of tv ratings going down. They are as dominant as they've ever been just less people are watching tv in general.

[MahiMike]

Best way to watch is NFL replay. 1 hour per game with all the crap removed. Used to be $30 now it's $99. Makes me think it's on purpose to slow these games down.

Hmmm

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Just remember, it's an indictment of tv ratings going down. They are as dominant as they've ever been just less people are watching tv in general.

That's why the NBA TV ratings are at a 4 year high. Don't stop believing.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

That's why the NBA TV ratings are at a 4 year high. Don't stop believing.

Their overall ratings aren't as high though that isn't a good comparison, 10 years ago the NFL had 22 of the top 100 watched programs, last year it was 77.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Just remember, it's an indictment of tv ratings going down. They are as dominant as they've ever been just less people are watching tv in general.

Sure it is.

[Mecca]

https://www.indiewire.com/2017/12/to...es-1201911145/

Read that and tell me that doesn't paint exactly what I said.

And yes I know it's old but it's a problem that will continue as more people stream and move away from tv in general.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Just remember, it's an indictment of tv ratings going down. They are as dominant as they've ever been just less people are watching tv in general.

Having the internet doesn't change the fact that people will believe whatever they want to believe

[Dayze]

I rarely watch a live game anymore. usually, for say a noon game, I won't start watching until around 1:30 via DVR.

I only made it through the first half last night watching live, and it irritated me to the point where I just shut it off.

[ModSocks]

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

That's why the NBA TV ratings are at a 4 year high. Don't stop believing.

Are you really going to sit here and pretend that online streaming and cord cutting isn't on the rise?

The numbers are clear as ****ing day if you pull your head out of your ass.

T.V ratings are declining across the board. Times change. Society changes.

Old technology such as television are not immune to it.

Meanwhile, the NFL STILL dominates the T.V market.

You so, so badly want this to be about Kaep just so you can feel like conservatives won something. Sad, sad little man.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by sedated

Having the internet doesn't change the fact that people will believe whatever they want to believe

Pretty much, any tv stat out there will tell you the NFL is still a ratings juggernaut it's just not what it once was because nothing is. People streaming, using the net for everything, and honestly a different generation have changed tv viewership in general.

When you consider this.

In 2017 the NFL alone accounted for 71 of the year's 100 most-watched telecasts. In 2007 that figure was 22 of 100.

That's Nielsen data from 18-49 year olds. TV viewing in general is down but you factor this in, NFL was down 9%. Linear networks down 16% cable nets down 11%.

How can anyone say that the NFL is the issue? Are there things I don't like, yea there are but overall more people are watching their stuff than anything else. Does that mean every tv show has a problem cause all ratings are ****ing down.