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Super Bowl Continues Steady Decline Among Adults Under 50
sportsmediawatch.com ^ | By Paulsen on 02/07/2017

Posted on 02/08/2017 7:05:36 AM PST by 11th_VA

The Super Bowl delivered its smallest audience among adults 18-49 in at least ten years.

Super Bowl 51 between the Patriots and Falcons delivered a 37.1 rating and 47.6 million viewers in the adults 18-49 demographic, down 2% in ratings and a fraction of a percent in viewership from Broncos/Panthers last year (37.7, 47.9M) and down 5% and 4% respectively from Patriots/Seahawks in 2015 (39.1, 49.7M).

It was the lowest rated Super Bowl in the demo since Steelers/Cardinals in 2009 (36.7) and the least-watched in at least a decade.

Since hitting 52.5 million in 2011, Super Bowl viewership among adults 18-49 has declined for six straight years. Ratings in the demo have declined for five straight after hitting a 40.5 in 2012.

This year, adults 18-49 made up just 42.77% of the audience for the primary TV broadcast (111.3M) — down from 42.78% last year and the smallest percentage in at least a decade. The demo accounted for more than 50% of the audience back in 2008, but its proportion has declined in each year since.

It is possible that some of those viewers have shifted to streaming, as the digital Super Bowl audience has risen each year since the game was first streamed in 2012. It is also possible that some viewers have simply aged out of the demo and were not replaced in sufficient numbers by those aging in. Whether those explanations can fully account for the loss of 4.9 million viewers in six years remains to be seen.

In adults 18-34, Sunday’s game had a 32.9 rating — down 1% from last year (33.3) and down 8% from 2015 (35.8). The corresponding viewership figure was not available.



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: nfl; superbowl; trends
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No surprises here ...
1 posted on 02/08/2017 7:05:36 AM PST by 11th_VA
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To: 11th_VA

THUG BALL


2 posted on 02/08/2017 7:09:13 AM PST by Cheerio (The unknown President #44)
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To: 11th_VA

Make fake super bowls, expect a decline.


3 posted on 02/08/2017 7:09:48 AM PST by castlegreyskull
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To: 11th_VA

I didn’t watch the Super Bowl because of Colin Kaepernick and the steady diet of NFL politically correct leftist propaganda.

And there’s no value-added when there are more commercials than football.

National Felons League ain’t got game.


4 posted on 02/08/2017 7:09:55 AM PST by goldstategop ((In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever))
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To: 11th_VA

Younger people, the millenials especially, have been weaned off football for the most part, in favor of SOCCER and B’Ball and other ‘less violent’ sports over the last two decades.

No wonder the ratings are going steadily down, the audience is steadily dying off...................


5 posted on 02/08/2017 7:09:55 AM PST by Red Badger (If "Majority Rule" was so important in South Africa, why isn't it that way here?.......)
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To: 11th_VA

Yet, I sense a huge interest in fantasy football in this age group (At least my kids and their friends). But you don’t need to watch the games to play fantasy, and its hard to play fantasy during the playoffs.


6 posted on 02/08/2017 7:10:17 AM PST by FatherofFive (Islam is EVIL and needs to be eradicated)
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To: 11th_VA

The NFL has been pandering to these liberal sissies who want to outlaw the game altogether.

I didn’t watch a minute of NFL Football this year. Not a second of the Super Bowl.

I used to be a big NFL fan. I frankly don’t care at all for the game anymore. I’d rather watch paint dry.


7 posted on 02/08/2017 7:13:54 AM PST by P-Marlowe (Freep mail me if you want to be on my Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar Ping list.)
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To: Red Badger
I don't think audiences for those other sports are all that much higher among young Americans, though. There is often a huge disconnect between the interest we have in sports we play as kids and the interest we have as adult spectators.

I'm sure all of the growth in soccer ratings comes from interest among immigrants, not American-born people.

8 posted on 02/08/2017 7:14:26 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("Yo, bartender -- Jobu needs a refill!")
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To: Alberta's Child

We “old farts” are not too keen on the NFL/Super Bowl either. I’d rather watch the Stanley Cup playoffs.


9 posted on 02/08/2017 7:16:41 AM PST by DaveA37
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To: Alberta's Child

We “old farts” are not too keen on the NFL/Super Bowl either. I’d rather watch the Stanley Cup playoffs.


10 posted on 02/08/2017 7:16:54 AM PST by DaveA37
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To: 11th_VA

Maybe people are tired of seeing the same thing every year....Patriots vs. some NFC team.


11 posted on 02/08/2017 7:19:04 AM PST by Right Brother
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To: 11th_VA

Too many rules ... too commercialized ... not enough home town players


12 posted on 02/08/2017 7:19:22 AM PST by clamper1797 (We are getting close to the last "box")
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To: 11th_VA

Two east coast teams and the gaga. Enough said.


13 posted on 02/08/2017 7:21:28 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: 11th_VA

The inexorable march of Leftism will result in the eventual prohibition of all contact sports — football, boxing, hockey, rugby, Australian rules, wrestling, judo, karate, kick boxing, MMA. Even baseball, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, and all other team sports will be watered down with “no touching” rules.

It’s almost here.


14 posted on 02/08/2017 7:22:43 AM PST by nickedknack
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To: Red Badger

Younger people, the millenials especially, have been weaned off football for the most part, in favor of SOCCER and B’Ball and other ‘less violent’ sports over the last two decades.

I think it is computer games. When Halo 3 came out the first day sales of the game were greater than the ticket sales for the New York Yankees for the whole year. Computer games are more interactive than sitting and watching a game on TV.


15 posted on 02/08/2017 7:22:44 AM PST by alternatives? (Why have an army if there are no borders?)
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To: 11th_VA
Look at the attention span of millenials, I bet if you could draw an attention span curve over this same time period, they would overlay. When you look at actual playing time vs the time a game takes, you'll find the answer. In a two hour football game, there are only about 15 minutes of game playing or actual play action...the rest is huddles, moving the ball, discussion if penalties, etc. but the average time of a play is about 6 seconds. The millenials don't have the attention span of spreading 15 minutes of action over a 2 hour period.

Look at soccer and basketball...compared to football, it is almost continuous play action during the time of the game. If the attention span is the problem, I bet this is the answer.

16 posted on 02/08/2017 7:23:25 AM PST by ThePatriotsFlag (We got more than we voted for!)
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To: 11th_VA

The big surprise was the very low percentage of available commercial time slots that were filled with actual paying commercials. The rest of the ad slots were filled with promos for upcoming FOX dramas and comedies. That is a huge financial loss.

Any commercial slot given away to promos cost FOX at least $5,000.000 in lost revenue and there were at least 50 to 60 of them of them.

20 years ago, every Superbowl commercial availability would have been bought and paid for 60 days before game time.

This year? Best SB Game ever, halftime show far from the disaster it could have been, pretty fair actually.... but this year’s Superbowl was the toilet bowl for FOX financially


17 posted on 02/08/2017 7:23:36 AM PST by Strac6 ("We sleep safe in our beds only because rough men stand ready to visit violence on the enemy.")
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To: 11th_VA

Just as long as we aren’t watching soccer.


18 posted on 02/08/2017 7:24:49 AM PST by ilovesarah2012
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To: 11th_VA

They can just run a football game and not a frigging festival.

You can barely tell there is an actual game being played.


19 posted on 02/08/2017 7:30:20 AM PST by VanDeKoik
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To: goldstategop
I didn’t watch the Super Bowl because of Colin Kaepernick and the steady diet of NFL politically correct leftist propaganda

I agree. I would flip to it once every 20 minutes or so. With New England losing most of the game it wasn't an issue. BTW I hate New England but as Brady...Belichek and the owner are Trump fans I wanted them to win. As they were losing till the very last I had no reason to watch. Till they started to pull up closer. I left it on for much of the last quarter and into the short OT. I'm glad the anti Kaepernik anti Goodell team won.

20 posted on 02/08/2017 7:31:31 AM PST by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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