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Ratings Fumble for NFL Surprises Networks, Advertisers
Wall Street Journal ^ | Ocotber 6, 2016 | Joe Flint

Posted on 10/06/2016 8:31:32 AM PDT by C19fan

The NFL has been sacked for a loss.

Once considered immune to the audience erosion plaguing the television industry, ratings for the National Football League have tumbled through the first four weeks of the season.

TV networks have bet heavily on sports in general, and the NFL in particular, because of the must-see value of their content. While more viewers are watching commercial-free streaming services like Netflix or recording shows on DVRs and skipping the ads, sports is still primarily watched live, making it valuable to advertisers.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Society; Sports; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: football; nfl
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To: C19fan

Consider too the NFL Network replays that condense down the game to its essentials. They are cagey enough not to preannounce the games getting this treatment so you take your chances the game you want will be selected.

That said, this year I’ve watched none at all. If Colin was a patriot, perhaps the colonials would use less be ammo.


21 posted on 10/06/2016 8:46:44 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (#DeplorableMe #BitterClinger #HillNO!)
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To: C19fan

Let me say it so there’s no doubt:

I am specifically not watching them because Kaepernick is acting like a douche and a lot of his fellow players are as well. That’s not something I want to spend my time watching.


22 posted on 10/06/2016 8:47:11 AM PDT by JamesP81
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To: C19fan

The NFL is reaping what Kaepernick and others have sown. And by not standing up for their country against the phony outrage of the multi-million dollar football players, the fans know who is more important to the owners and coaches in the NFL. Haven’t watched an NFL game yet. And I am sickened that college, high school and yes, even grade school sports players, are emulating their plastic, pampered sports heroes.


23 posted on 10/06/2016 8:51:11 AM PDT by originalbuckeye ("In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell)
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To: dfwgator

“I’ll just have the sound on and click on the game when something interesting happens.”

Which is about a dozen times per game.

We have a similar strategy:

Except for our home NFL team, for pretty much the rest of the games we “watch”, which is mostly college football anyway, we pre-record and hit the 30-second skip forward button followed by the 10-second skip back button to skip the standing around between plays. Obviously, commercials and other breaks are skipped to. There’s actually only about 15 minutes of actual football action in the 3.5 hour total TV show.

If a game is REALLY boring or the score gets lopsided, then we put the show in fast-forward mode and watch the scoreboard ticker ratchet up like a pinball machine and MAYBE stop and backup if there’s a score or a turnover. For super-boring games we’ll just skip to the last few minutes IF the score is close.

We’ve really got much better things to do with our time than watch such boring shows in real time.


24 posted on 10/06/2016 8:52:51 AM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: needmorePaine
NFL ratings decline could be the election in microcosm

I've heard crazier theories. It's like Chick-Fil-A in reverse. This is a conservative country. All the "bigger than the game" crap is wearing thin, commercials getting worse and worse. Amy Schumer, really? It will take a concerted effort for the NFL to win fans back. They are businessmen, they're not stupid. This just blindsided most of them. That being said, I have no sympathy for the owners that are tone-deaf limousine liberals.

25 posted on 10/06/2016 8:56:20 AM PDT by scottinoc
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To: C19fan
The silence of the article on the real reason for the drop in ratings is deafening.

They don't want it to be something they can do something about, because then they'll have to do something. The problem with that is that you lose markets a lot faster than you build them.

It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to recognize that the watershed event is the election. There are four weeks now until that event, after which they'll have six weeks before the playoffs to react and to re-establish the market if they can. That isn't much time to sway public opinion, less to change public behavior, even less to recover the losses. This is starting to look like a tough year for the owners. I wonder...gosh, I wonder, what could it possibly be?

26 posted on 10/06/2016 8:56:53 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: C19fan

The pussification(PC) of the game and then black power politicization does not help you staying connected to your once viewers!


27 posted on 10/06/2016 8:58:23 AM PDT by Harpotoo
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To: C19fan

I’m boycotting the NFL this year because the Cowboys weren’t allowed to pay homage to our fallen law enforcement officers.

It’s just the other side of the same coin.


28 posted on 10/06/2016 9:08:10 AM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: needmorePaine
"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."

Read the statement released by Target on their (horrific) quarterly results. Blamed the weather, blamed business exits, a tough economic environment (though their competition WalMart was up in the same period....)

Blamed everything but the Conservative Boycott of their stores for the 10% decline.

They can't admit what's really going on, because it would mean that they were wrong. Liberalism *must* be infallible, it's a jealous God. One person stating the honest truth brings the whole system of beliefs down.

29 posted on 10/06/2016 9:09:30 AM PDT by wbill
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To: C19fan

The decline is over-determined. I stopped watching a few years ago because of the thugishness of the players combined with the fact that I no longer have the patience to watch a 3 1/2 hour broadcast to see 13 minutes of game play. For others it’s the bad reffing. For others still it’s the politicization of what should be a non-political event. So plenty of reasons.


30 posted on 10/06/2016 9:11:07 AM PDT by jalisco555 ("In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act". George Orwell.)
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To: All

The NFL became a billion dollar industry due to the support of 18-50 year old white males...the NFL abandoned them in pursuit of thugs, women and LBGTBLTZ’s......have fun with your league....


31 posted on 10/06/2016 9:12:50 AM PDT by Maverick68 (p)
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To: areukiddingme1

But what about all the stories about how a certain player who used to be in a gang, and even knew how to knife fight with both hands (OJ, Ray Lewis) escaped the hood? Don’t you have a heart? S/


32 posted on 10/06/2016 9:16:48 AM PDT by castlegreyskull
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To: Harpotoo

I have another theory:

1) Right now 23% of school age children are from immigrant families. Families from Africa and India and south America are not US football fans, nor are they likely to become so.

So as the slow replacement of a white population that liked US football, with a non white population that likes the rest of the world football (soccer as it is known in the US) you will see a gradual decline in the NFL. The trend is likely similar in baseball. This seems to account for 11~12% of the decline seen, as I seem to recall reading the decline was already 11 % prior to the flag issue.

2) The ghettoization of football, leftist causes being pushed and the disrespect to the flag are likely a second order effect, which accounts for 5~6 % of the 17 % decline this season.

I was in that category, the last super bowl with its gay pushing halftime show and black lives matter propaganda kind of turned me off to the NFL, not that I was a great watcher prior, but the obvious in our face propaganda did not go over well. needless to say my son will not grow up watching games as occurred in my father’s household.


33 posted on 10/06/2016 9:17:26 AM PDT by Frederick303
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To: C19fan

The really critical aspect of this is that the NFL audience is likelier than most to skew male and conservative. So not only is the wave of protests irritating and tin-eared, but it directly contradicts the beliefs and values of the majority of their typical audience. As such, the negative impact is going to be more pronounced.

Despite all attempts to broaden the appeal of the sport, the demographics of the core audience haven’t changed much, so the safe move for improving ratings is going to be to appeal to the core demographic, and they don’t want to see overpaid uneducated dolts wailing about how oppressed they are and “sticking it to the Man” by ignoring the anthem, especially since “conservative male” is the group that most overlaps with “current or former military”.


34 posted on 10/06/2016 9:17:52 AM PDT by Little Pig
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To: C19fan
FTNFL
35 posted on 10/06/2016 9:18:22 AM PDT by Mich Patriot ("The problem with quotes found on the Internet is they are often not true." - Abraham Lincoln)
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To: C19fan

I officially apologize to the NFL for not having a TV and therefore not being able to watch their circus. Sorry.


36 posted on 10/06/2016 9:19:24 AM PDT by upchuck (On the issue of SCOTUS alone, Trump has to win in November.)
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To: Frederick303

Kids this days are more likely to be seen wearing a Lionel Messi FC Barcelona jersey than an NFL Jersey.


37 posted on 10/06/2016 9:20:03 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: C19fan

Nig ball has lost it’s luster


38 posted on 10/06/2016 9:20:26 AM PDT by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc;WASP .... Hilary is an Ameriphobe)
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To: C19fan

Nig ball has lost it’s luster


39 posted on 10/06/2016 9:21:08 AM PDT by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc;WASP .... Hilary is an Ameriphobe)
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To: C19fan

They’ve got to be very scared about this. The NFL is not just about the NFL, the NFL is also the biggest thing holding a lot of people back from cord-cutting. And they’re getting hit not only from the right over Kaepernick but from the left over TBI’s. I know I have a 4 year old boy, and I’ve tried to pretend that football doesn’t even exist for his entire life.


40 posted on 10/06/2016 9:22:00 AM PDT by Behind the Blue Wall
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