There's nothing networks hate more than giving away ads that would normally sell for $500,000 to $600,000 per 30 seconds. Especially when they're paying a combined $5 billion per year to air NFL games....
Posted on 10/12/2016 9:43:28 AM PDT by 11th_VA
The painful thing about protests is they cut both ways.
The NFL is dreaming if it thinks the alarming double-digit drop in TV ratings this season has nothing to do with a fan backlash against Colin Kaepernick's protest of the American flag and national anthem.
TV ratings for "Sunday Night Football" and "Monday Night Football" are off by a whopping 16 to 20 percent so far this season, Nielsen told Sporting News on Monday.
Yet in an internal memo last week, NFL executives found “no evidence that concern over player protests during the national anthem is having any material impact on our ratings.” Instead, the league blames "unprecedented interest" in the U.S. presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In other words, nothing to see here. Move along.
Really? Is the NFL kidding us? Or just kidding itself?
Look, there are a number of reasons for the overall ratings drop across NBC, ESPN, Fox, CBS and NFL Network through Week 5.
Among them: the absence of star quarterbacks Tom Brady (who returned from suspension Sunday), the injured Tony Romo and the retired Peyton Manning; lousy football due to less practice time by players; lopsided scores; the blizzard of penalty flags slowing telecasts down; the RedZone channel; and millennial consumers cutting the cord.
The main culprit, most sports media experts say, is the presidential election.
Like the razor-close battle between George W. Bush and Al Gore did in 2000, the soap opera-like drama is siphoning viewers to news networks such as CNN and Fox News.
But every viewer counts. Does it occur to the marketing-savvy NFL that some fans are exercising their right to protest Kaepernick's protest by changing the channel?
#BoycottNFL might not be the No. 1 reason for the ratings falloff. But for the NFL to claim the "Kaepernick Effect" is non-existent looks like PR spin. Or willful blindness.
The bottom line: There's a vocal group of fans out there that sees the peaceful protest by the 49ers quarterback, and other NFL players, as anti-American, anti-police and anti-military.
We don't now how many of them there are. Right or wrong, they're offended by what they see as disrespect by Kaepernick and other NFL players toward Old Glory and "The Star-Spangled Banner."
They're tired of being lectured and hectored by TV talking heads.
These TV vigilantes are hell-bent on punishing the $13 billion league that seems to accept, even condone, the kneeldowns and raised fists by its players.
They're urging other turned-off viewers to tune out NFL games.
The NFL's right about one thing: Politics is playing a part in this.
Most of the #BoycottNFL folks seem to lean Republican or politically conservative.
Actor James Woods, one of the few conservatives in Hollywood, is cheering this crowd on.
They're also being egged on by conservative talk radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin.
Limbaugh, who resigned from ESPN in 2003 after controversial comments about Donovan McNabb, said protesting NFL players are in danger of killing the golden goose.
"The National Football League is on TV. It can easily be turned off," Limbaugh said on his national radio show. "The NFL is sponsored by beer and cars and soft drinks that can easily be not purchased. Not that hard. Just turn it off.”
In some way, #BoycottNFL seems to be born out of the same populist rage against the establishment machines that powered the Trump and Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns. And the Tea Party before that.
It's no coincidence many #BoycottNFLers are also supporters of the Republican presidential nominee.
Some use the Trump campaign hashtag #MAGA (Make America Great Again) next to #BoycottNFL.
The NFL can and should be proud of the strength of its programming. It's the TV equivalent of beachfront property in Malibu. But there's trouble in the NFL's TV paradise after a record 2015.
Just look at the early numbers.
The Wall Street Journal's Joe Flint reported the NFL's overall TV ratings fell 11 percent through Week 4. And dropped 12 percent in the advertiser-coveted 18- to 34-year-old demographic.
The falloff is hitting the NFL's primetime packages particularly hard, Nielsen told me Monday.
Over the first five games this season, average TV ratings for NBC's "Sunday Night Football" dropped 16.7 percent to 12.0 vs. 14.4 over the first five games last year. The show's average television audience slumped 14.9 percent to 21.2 million viewers from 24.9 million during the same period the year before.
Going head to head against Sunday's second U.S. presidential debate, NBC's overnight rating for Giants-Packers fell 22 percent to 10.2 from 13.1 in the same window last year.
ESPN's iconic "Monday Night Football" has been hit hard, too.
Over the first four games, average TV ratings fell 20 percent to 6.8 from 8.5 during the first four telecasts in 2015. The average "MNF" viewing audience dropped 16.9 percent to 11.3 million viewers vs. 13.6 million over first four games of 2015.
The good news: TV ratings/audiences for Fox and CBS' early and late afternoon Sunday games are holding up well. That indicates people are still watching their favorite teams on Sunday, but passing on the glut of primetime Monday, Thursday and Sunday night games unless their teams are playing.
There are other danger signs.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents in a Rasmussen poll said they're less likely to watch NFL game because of Kaepernick and other players protesting racial injustice.
The network TV suits are worried on Madison Avenue. I reported last week some TV networks are already giving back "make-good" ads to compensate advertisers for ratings shortfalls.
There's nothing networks hate more than giving away ads that would normally sell for $500,000 to $600,000 per 30 seconds. Especially when they're paying a combined $5 billion per year to air NFL games....
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BTW - keep up the boycott. I estimate we can cost the NFL $400-800 Million in lost advertiser revenue this year alone.
“They’re urging other turned-off viewers to tune out NFL games.”
You betcha we are!
Boycotting the NFL is also an excellent way to punish the networks for their biased “news” election coverage.
Hit ‘em where it hurts!
The whole country is like this now DENIAL. Obama ushered in a new era of horrible-ness. Unreal. Patriots are waking up though.
Really? Is the NFL kidding us? Or just kidding itself?
Or are they owned by Saudis and they're just not telling us?
Bottom line ... the Kaepernick situation is probably only a small factor in their declining ratings. A bigger issue for the NFL is that more and more fans are apparently just not finding NFL football a worthwhile value for four hours of their time anymore. Too many flags, too much controversy over calls on the field, too many commercial breaks, and too many stupid graphics on the screen that add absolutely nothing to the game.
The National Felons League can keep their heads in the sand until the stands are all empty and they have to get real jobs.
They’ll be lucky to get $10.00 an hour.
People should pile on and tune out.
- 16% 20% is huge. Let’s send a message and tune out.
I don’t watch sports on my big-screen TV anymore, no one else in my family is really into sports, so now I pretty much watch games on my laptop. And basically just have the sound on, and surf elsewhere then pop into watch if I here something interesting happening.
Our household has cut NFL viewing to the bone. Sucks, but obviously necessary.
I am certain the NFL has told owners - say NOTHING until Nov. 8. After that, they will re-visit the political landscape.
Once Obama is gone, BLM will be a spent force. They are HIS political movement, so while they may live on, they will have fewer friends in DC and certainly no direct support from the DOJ as they had with Obama, Holder and Lynch.
Even with Hillary, BLM are not her people, so she will dump them. If Trump wins, the situation will be totally changed.
NFL spokesman, Baghdad Bob said “No evidence that concern over player protests during the national anthem is having any material impact on our ratings.”
Although the latter excuses are good points I believe most of this has to do with Kaepernick. It certainly does for me. I’ve watched football since I was a little kid. I ditched it.
I think Peter King got hold of some NFL ratings from previous POTUS election seasons. Ratings do drop but nothing close to what is going on this season. According to the XM/Sirius college football morning drive college football ratings have held steady/slightly up year over year. For my part another week of abstinence from the NFL. By the way it is Pink Month in the NFL so just another reason to boycott.
There's nothing networks hate more than giving away ads that would normally sell for $500,000 to $600,000 per 30 seconds. Especially when they're paying a combined $5 billion per year to air NFL games....
They have in concussion protocol for about a month.
I think 80 NFL games have been played so far this season. 16 games per week, five weeks.
I’m zero for eighty! Haven’t seen a single game. Plan to see zero games this season and post-season.
Five weeks sober
One Game at a Time
“Vigilantes”?
It’s not taking the law into your own hands or violent to simply change the channel.
I despise that kind of entertainment - the only pro football I see is flipping thru channels. No diversity. It had gotten to be like the NBA
Of course The Sultan won’t be gone until Jan. 20.
He can harm America up to the end.
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