Posted on 01/03/2018 7:06:34 AM PST by 11th_VA
Capping a season of record-low Monday Night Football ratings, ESPN’s first Christmas NFL game in 11 years was a lump of coal.
Raiders-Eagles scored a 5.9 rating and 11.7 million viewers on ESPN’s Monday Night Football Christmas night, down 42% in ratings and 38% in viewership from Week 16 last year (Cowboys-Lions: 10.1, 18.9M). ESPN’s Nielsen ratings now include streaming viewership on TV devices; comparisons are to last year’s TV+streaming numbers.
The Eagles’ win, which peaked at a 6.7 and 13.4 million from 9:30-10 PM ET, was the lowest rated Week 16 MNF game since Broncos-Chargers on Christmas Eve 2007 (5.1). It was the least-watched since Falcons-Lions in 2012, which aired on a Saturday night to avoid Christmas Eve (9.7M).
Of the 14 Christmas NFL games this century, it ranks tenth in ratings and ninth in viewership. Compared to last year’s Christmas night game, Broncos-Chiefs on NBC, ratings fell 44% from a 10.6 and viewership 45% from 21.4 million.
On a brighter note, it was ESPN’s most-watched Christmas Day program in 23 years — since Lions-Dolphins had 16.1 million on the holiday in 1994. That comes with the caveat that ESPN has only aired one other Christmas NFL game, Jets-Dolphins in 2006 (11.1M).
ESPN’s telecast had an 8.9 rating in Philadelphia and a mere 3.6 in the Bay Area. Over-the-air simulcasts on ABC affiliates drew a 24.0 on Philadelphia’s WPVI and a 7.8 on KGO in the Bay Area. New Orleans was the top neutral market with a 12.3.
For the season, Monday Night Football averaged a 6.4 rating and 10.8 million viewers — the lowest rated and least-watched season in series history. The previous lows were a 6.8 last year and 11.2 million viewers in 2007.
Monday Night Football ratings and viewership have now declined in four straight seasons. Just four years ago, the package averaged an 8.6 and 13.7 million.
Eight of the final nine MNF games this season hit multi-year lows in ratings and viewership. Five games failed to crack a 6.0 rating, matching the previous nine seasons combined.
Average Monday Night Football Ratings, Viewership
well seeing as i’m not a petulant little whiny liberal, i don’t let the actions of a few idiots pollute the whole thing. otherwise i’d also have to boycott freerepublic.
Penis Envy.
oh sorry Howies not on the list any more the packers waiting list is only 29 years. LOL
and just what is the average salary of your basic nfl playerr?
And what is it, 85 percent of nfl players are black.
And how many of the protests being done by pampered white folks?
Get real RED.
RAcist? hardly. Facts pal, facts.
instead of appreciating what has been presented to these fools they tend to bite the hand that feeds them and their families which is the viewing public.
Course if you don’t mind being crapped on that is your privlidge.
Racist? Facts pal.
“Redskins used to have 30 year waiting lists”
My understanding is if there is a turnover of 5% of seats a year, then a “30 year waiting list” represents 250% capacity demand. A turnover rate of 3% would equate to a 190% capacity demand. A thirty year waiting list can disappear rather quickly with declining demand and increased turnover.
Many season ticket holders sell a portion of their tickets. If demand drops the sold price below face, then their costs to attend the games they want to attend skyrocket.
I am not sure how good the 30 year waiting list estimates are. It seems to me to be a bit of hype. I don’t trust the NFL or the press. It will be interesting to see how long the NFL teams can maintain the 30 year waiting list story in the face of declining demand..
No Fans Left.
This year they started counting online streaming viewers into the total number of viewers stat. So likely they took a huge loss, but it appears mitigated because they can gin the numbers up with a ton of folks they couldn’t before.
The NFL is hurting. The only teams that are reliably coming even close to selling out stadiums are the Super Bowl contenders.
It’s not solely due to the boycott but that is definitely a factor. Death by a thousand cuts.
Perhaps it's like MLB, where there are elite teams who attempt to win a championship, and other teams which spend just enough to slip into the playoffs (and attract fans) but are not serious contenders.
The owners are primarily wealthy liberals who are really afraid of their peers AND their players.
They allowed this mess to metastasize and now they are paying the price. They are stuck with it and they can’t now turn around and condemn it.
It will get worse before it gets better....................
We already heard about the SEC championship game.
Bama lost.
Bama wasn’t even in the SEC Championship Game.
no they didn’t, ESPN ratings may include streaming device like the espn app. it does not take into account the other ways that cord cutters can consume tv without watching a tv. for example every Verizon cell phone can view Monday night football outside of espn or the espn app. but if you think you not watching a football game is going to bring down the NFL good luck. And if the audience really was smaller ads would cost less, they don’t!
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-tv-section-ratings-20141123-story.html
What ratings slump?
Season-to-date, broadcast prime-time ratings are down 9 percent compared to the year-ago period, with the Big Four nets averaging 6.3 million viewers per night, down from 6.95 million in the first fourteen weeks of the 2016-17 schedule. The NFL’s own 9 percent decline is of a piece with the slump in overall TV viewership, although football’s scale dwarfs everything else on the tube. Through Week 16 of the NFL season, all regional and national broadcast windows are averaging 14.9 million viewers, which represents a loss of some 1.4 million viewers compared to 2016. NFL household ratings are down 8 percent to an 8.6 rating.
While NFL ratings took another hit this season, demand for ad time remains heavy. According to Standard Media Index estimates, overall in-game NFL ad sales revenues are up 2 percent year-over-year, while makegoods (aka audience deficiency units) are down slightly. In 2016, 22 percent of all in-game NFL spots were salted away for ADUs, while 21 percent have been thus allocated this season.
Also seeing a slight increase is the average unit cost of an in-game spot. Per SMI, a 30-second commercial in this season’s NFL slate fetched some $473,775 a pop, up 1 percent compared to $468,434 in 2016.
It is like CNN. The companies keep buying ads even though nobody selects CNN to watch. Why the same companies focus so much on reducing labor costs is beyond me.
Great! The fans are taking a knee and can’t get up. Just like their ratings.
Roger? Is that you? Congrats on the private jet.
I’m sure millions of folks are watching on “they sail fawns” via Verizon and not being reported in the declining viewership numbers ::rolleyes::
Listen, dumbfuck, I said the boycott was not solely responsible, but undoubtedly has an effect. No where did I claim the NFL would die just because “I” am not watching. Read/comprehend/reply, Goodell.
No supporting an organization that spits in the face of our flag and our veterans is the ticket. What are you doing watching NFL?!
Where have you been, the boycott started last year, the year ratings started to take a plunge.
It’s been a rolling boycott as more and more people drop out of watching the NFL. I stopped watching after Bob Costa went on an anti-gun rant before a NFL game. That was it for me. Nothing the NFL has done since has dissuaded me.
If you’re a man and you wear a sportsball jersey with another mans name on it, you are a cuck.
If you put yourself on any type of waiting list for season tickets, you are a stupid sucker.
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