Posted on 10/04/2016 10:20:02 AM PDT by 11th_VA
Research conducted on behalf of SportsBusiness Daily has found unprecedented double-digit audience declines for NFL games so far this season.
According to research firm CivicScience, NBC’s Sunday Night Football — the highest rated prime-time program for the last five years — has seen its average audience drop 10 percent so far this year after four games.
Viewership of the NFL’s widely dispersed Thursday night games has dropped 15 percent. And ESPN’s Monday Night Football is down 19 percent.
It’s not fringe science — culling Nielsen data, Sports Media Watch has the NFL’s ratings pretty much down across the board through the first four weeks of the regular season.
It’s hard to elicit panic from media executives just a quarter of the way through the NFL regular season, but the implications could be huge. Popularity of NFL programming has grown quickly as most other shows have seen their audience succumb to new consumption patterns. And the NFL now operates with impunity.
"You never like seeing a competitor getting a part of what you do, but such is the NFL,” CBS Corp. chief executive Moonves recently lamented to investors after the league made CBS share its Thursday night games with NBC and Twitter. “They’re the 800-pound gorilla, and when the NFL says 'jump,' you say, 'yes sir.’"
But the possible ramifications go beyond the NFL.
Not only did NBCU experience double-digit ratings declines for the Rio Olympics, Major League Baseball and NASCAR have all seen significant ratings drops, too. And the NCAA men’s basketball championship game experienced record low viewership.
“All these sports go through cycles,” said Artie Bulgrin, ESPN’s senior VP of global research and analytics, said to SportsBusiness Daily. “It’s impossible to suggest that there’s anything going wrong here, particularly in light of the fact that we are in a really odd year in terms of the protracted presidential race, which has captured the attention of Americans going back a year now. Plus, it’s an Olympic year, which clearly had an impact during the summer.”
For his part, Mike Mulvihill, Fox Sports’ senior vice president of programming and research, says sports ratings have dropped in previous presidential election cycles. Notably, cable news networks are experiencing double-digit ratings increases.
“I would really start with the election — I don’t think you have to look much deeper than that,” Mulvihill said. “Cable news has been up so much all year, going back to the earliest primary debates. So much of a share of attention has gone to the campaign, it seems like it has affected everything else.”
Left wing posturing is very evident. It REALLY pisses me off!
1. the pink uniforms went bye-bye
2. they are now showing the national anthem; last night’s game there wasn’t one person seen kneeling.
“Not only did NBCU experience double-digit ratings declines for the Rio Olympics, Major League Baseball and NASCAR have all seen significant ratings drops, too. And the NCAA men’s basketball championship game experienced record low viewership.”
Raise a generation of young men who watch HG-tv with their moms...who declare sports dangerous but make sure their kids get participation trophies...don’t whine when the young men don’t watch sports.
I’m watching less because of the *endless* TV commercials.
Touchdown = commercial
Change of possession = commercial
Field goal = commercial
Timeout = commercial
End of quarter = commercial
End of half = commercial
Injury = commercial
Then they include a “TV timeout” to top it off - just to do commercials.
It seems far worse than it used to be (?)
An interesting thought occurred to me.
Rome used ‘Bread and Circuses’ to keep the masses entertained and occupied as the republic and then the ‘empire’ collapsed around them from political excesses.
Today we use EBT cards and TV to do the same thing.
And it appears that TV is no longer as entertaining as it used to be. And the EBT cards are only one ‘Non-replenishment’ away from causing food riots.
A wise man or woman would do well to consider the impact of these things.
“Not only did NBCU experience double-digit ratings declines for the Rio Olympics, Major League Baseball and NASCAR have all seen significant ratings drops, too. And the NCAA men’s basketball championship game experienced record low viewership.”
Awesome! Professional sports are little more than the circuses in “bread and circuses” to draw away the attention of the “masses” from real issues. Bring down the Media-Sports-Entertainment Complex!
(but I’m still going to see Rogue One when it comes out in December)
Excellent letter, but it will do no good. Goodall could care less about integrity, morality, honor and country. The only thing that will get to him is the pocketbook — nothing else.
I honestly think you are spot on. Anecdotal evidence seems to bear this out. This changeover has been building slowly but steadily. And now I sense the momentum is picking up in pace.
I am seeing numbers of really athletic kids now participaing, not just the chubby wannabes who alternate soccer with band practice.
Also more people watch sports on their laptops, like I do, a lot of times, I just go and surf other pages, and have the sound on, then peek in when something interesting happens.
That’s awesome !!!
I loved it too. He hits home with what we Americans feel is a huge insult and those bastard NFL owners may as well be kneeling down on a knee too when our anthem is disgraced because they are going right along with it.
Oh, it’s trickling down to High School, now.
You are probably right, but I think it should be sent to every NFL owner. Goodall works at their pleasure.
Why I prefer soccer, no commercials until the half. I now prefer watching the Premier League to the NFL.
Amen, and eloquently stated. The National Anthem is not a referendum on whether these overgrown children think everything is hunky dory within local communities. It is a time to honor our flag, a symbol of the hard-fought freedoms we all enjoy every day.
I would not want to oppress them by watching them play a game for millions of dollars.
I live in New England.
The last four weeks have been “pre-season.” The regular season starts Sunday.
Some observations:
* Football is vastly overexposed because of greed among advertisers, owners and agents.
* Goodell, a schmuck, is oblivious to the increasing presence of a criminal element among players, many since their college years.
*Soccer/Football is becoming more and more attractive to parents of teenage boys.
*Lombardi would have cut Kapernick the moment of his Anthem protest and the rest of the League would have closed the door on him.
Semper Fi and a sharp salute to the Colonel. Bravo, Sir!
That is the truth.
When I read about this assclown disrespecting MY COUNTRY, as an honorably discharged Captain, USAR-Infantry, I vowed never to watch televised football again, ever.
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