Posted on 10/21/2016 6:13:06 PM PDT by 11th_VA
In this wacky, topsy-turvy biz we call television, the one constant has been the NFL. It brings in the viewers and helps bring them back for other programming. The ad dollars pile up at a predictable rate.
Until this season.
From the start, the NFL and its TV distributors have noticed the ratings have not been measuring up to last season.
On Wednesday, Nielsen ratings cruncher Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group published a report that concludes that viewership among adults 18-49, live plus same day, is off 15.1%.
The big question is why. And it's just not the NFL and TV suits who are trying to answer it. It's been the subject on sports radio and among sports columnists, bloggers and everyday fans.
Two execs with much to gain or lose from the NFL on TV, CBS CEO Les Moonves and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, this week acknowledged publicly that there is a problem, but offered little on the cause, let alone a solution.
“Have they sliced it and diced it too much? Is there too much product out there?” Moonves asked at a Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco. “I really don’t know.”
Theories for the trouble abound. Here are several:
(Snip bogus theories)
The real question is what is different this season that would cause such a sudden and significant loss of viewership.
I would trace it to the Trump phenomenon. Whether you like him or not, the man is leading a revolution — primarily of white working class males — against "the establishment," of which the NFL is an entertainment cornerstone.
With its $20+ parking and $10+ beers, seat licenses and high prices for bad seats, the NFL long ago moved up in class, leaving its original blue collar backers far behind so it can rub elbows with corporate America.
Goodell this week said San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick's protesting of police violence against African-Americans by not standing for the national anthem is not a significant factor in the declining ratings.
Don't believe it. A Quinnipiac University poll released Oct. 11 poll found that 63% of white adults disapprove of the protest. Only 30% favor it.
Trump himself has blasted Kaepernick, reaching back to the 1960s for his response. The USA, he said, love it or leave it.
It is not unreasonable to presume that some percentage of Trump's millions of followers have decided to boycott the NFL on TV.
Wieser's research reinforces this theory. The loss of viewership (again adults 18-49, live-plus-same-day), it says, is far from uniform across class and race.
While viewership dropped 14.1% in homes with more than $75,000 in annual income, it was down a whopping 28% in homes with less than $75,000.
In homes with a black head of household, the decline was 9.7% compared to 15.2% with a white head of household.
All broadcasters have a stake in seeing the NFL return to full health. On a live-plus-three-day basis, the Wieser research finds, NFL games accounted for 8.6% of all TV viewing (cable and satellite included) during the first five weeks of the football season. That a huge percentage relative to the number of TV hours the NFL actually fills.
If the viewership doesn't rebound after political passions cool and playoff races heat up in November and December, the NFL and their TV partners will have a real problem on their hands, one they cannot ignore.
Broadcasters should hope it isn't Trumpism. That's the one that might be toughest to fix.
Er, no he doesn't. Just another plonker looking down his nose at 50% or more of the nation.
“Trumpism?” Really?
“Goodell this week said San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick’s protesting of police violence against African-Americans by not standing for the national anthem is not a significant factor in the declining ratings.”
The Crony-Capitalist NFL owners pay this genius big bux to say stupid stuff like this.
Whistling in the graveyard. I can't say I've done a survey, but three of my friends feel the same as me: We will not watch the 49ers play ball. Two of them refuse to watch any football until the NFL sanctions the protesters. Yes, they have freedom of speech rights, but not when they're supposed to be working on playing football. If Colin wants to show off for his new girlfriend, he's free to do it on his own time. Any team that uses NFL TV as a forum for this BS protest, will not see me watching it...and I don't think I stand alone on this.
the fix is easy
1. apologize to the American people for insulting us, and
2. enforce the contract provisions where players promise not to do harm to the league’s public image or revenue stream
One dumb #### who found out he actually sucks, finds something else to blame for his shortcomings.
And takes down a league with it. With help from useful idiots like other players and Roger Goodell.
I’ve tried to ENJOY The season, but I can’t.
Too much of a slap in the face.
One of few things i really love and this #### had to ruin it.
Goodell this week said San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick’s protesting of police violence against African-Americans by not standing for the national anthem is not a significant factor in the declining ratings.
**********************
He is an idiot.
The insulting of our country and its flag and national anthem is precisely why I and millions like me, formerly a 50 year fan have turned them off.
Keep whistling past the graveyard as the overpaid players insult your revenue source and dig your graves.
Get rid of Herr Kommissar Goodell and those lousy refs who penalize players for being players.
The same for those refs who don’t allow play reviews.
Kaepernick is the straw that broke the camel’s back.
In this wacky, topsy-turvy union we call a country, the one constant has been the Anthem, a devotion to the Flag
The NFL goes through a season without defending it from one of their own and they can never call themselves an American institution again
This ignorant person is stating in uniform that our flag stands for racial inequality and the NFL agrees by allowing it
They are done. They cannot come back if they don’t get out in front of this before Thanksgiving
This started when they got rid of Bocephus...that was the beginning of the end. That and the constant anti-gun, politically correct nonsense.
The NFL and its players have freedom of speech rights. They have stated they hate the flag. No one’s saying that’s illegal. They have the right to say it
Others have the right to hear it interpret it and have feelings about it. That’s how free speech works.
Free speech does not extend to their telling people how to react to it or to believe their lies about it
Kaepernick is the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Yep, there are other factors too, causing declines in viewership.
Just among people I know, I hear some of these reasons:
1. Too many thugs in the NFL.
2. too many commercials. Why do they have a bloc of commercials after the scoring play, come back for the kickoff, then go to another bloc of commercials again?
3. Games take 3 1/2 hours or more to play nowadays. Why do games take much longer to play nowadays compared to the past? Baseball has the same problem.
4. Too many replay reviews.
5. Girl sideline reporters who don’t know much, if anything about football, who add nothing by their commentary.
I haven’t watched a down of football since Kapernick did what he did and the other losers followed suit. They lost my respect for injecting politics into a place where there should be none.
Just throw the damn ball.
The players and owners will keep quiet, as they are all losing money with this nonsence.
They should hire Rush. And replace Kap with Tebow.
That has nothing to do with TV viewership, which is how the vast majority of NFL fans watch the games. And it's TV viewership that is off 15%.
They just can't figure it out, or they just don't want to figure it ou.
Until you're willing to identify the problem you cannot fix it.
They inject politics into a place people want to escape from politics. Thus no longer something worth watching.
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