League regular season TV ratings down 9.7%

[KillerKat]

6 minutes ago, Goondal said:

Irrelevant conclusion

Not really. I grew tired of the BS college ranking system before the playoffs, as did many others. Then they try to answer the criticism with only a 4 team playoff. It would be a much interesting playoff if they expanded it. I know I would watch that. It counter-acts the human element that's involved in ranking teams through the regular season. In conclusion, I just think people are getting fed up with the "same ole, same ole".

[Goondal]

4 minutes ago, KillerKat said:

Not really. I grew tired of the BS college ranking system before the playoffs, as did many others. Then they try to answer the criticism with only a 4 team playoff. It would be a much interesting playoff if they expanded it. I know I would watch that. It counter-acts the human element that's involved in ranking teams through the regular season. In conclusion, I just think people are getting fed up with the "same ole, same ole".

I do not like their playoff either, but they have had that/worse throughout their history. The point remain.  CFB #s are down.  Pro Football #s are down.  People are watching less football altogether.  Players kneeling is a red herring.

[rayzor]

Quote

Critics, including the President himself, have been quick to point out that the NFL's ratings are down. But what they won't tell you is that the NFL is down significantly less than the rest of broadcast television.

Through week seven, the NFL is down 5% overall from the same point last year. That's a troubling drop for the biggest ratings powerhouse on TV, but it seems less dire when you consider that the four major networks are down an average 8% in prime time.

NBC is down 4%, CBS is down 6%, ABC is down 11%, and Fox's prime time viewership dropped 20% through the first month of the new TV season, according to Nielsen data. And those numbers are down despite the inclusion of live sporting events, which usually bring in big audiences.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/26/media/nfl-ratings-tv-networks/index.html

the number of of cord cutters are growing across the board. major networks are losing traction to online services at a rate higher than the NFL is losing viewers.

i think there are plenty of reasons why major networks are losing viewers in different genres, but the above article has a good explanation for it that makes a whole lot more sense and is more rational than any agendas getting pushed.

Quote

Executives and observers will continue to watch the NFL's ratings and try to figure out what's causing the falling viewership for the biggest show on TV. Critics have cited everything from lack of star power at the quarterback position to lopsided games as reasons for the down numbers. 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch offered another reason: over-saturation.

"You're asking a lot from customers to watch Thursday," Murdoch said at the Paley International Council Summit in New York on Wednesday. "They watch a lot more college football game on Saturdays, and then on Sundays, and then on Monday Night Football, etc. It's a lot. So I do think that preserving the scarcity value of those events and that audience is something that is worth thinking about."

over-saturation was definitely a risk, but they had to strike while the iron was hot. viewership and popularity was growing at an unsustainable level, largely due to fantasy football, which is also on the decline and has been for a couple years.

what we have is a market correction. you can find all kinds of causes, but it was unavoidable. people will find various reasons for it looking for the smoking gun, but there is never just one smoking gun for something as big as this.

some will say that they quit watching because of all the politics getting pulled in, but really it's just because people are losing interest. people always do what they really want to do and won't let anything stand in their way. when they lose interest, they'll start allowing excuses and reasons in that otherwise they would have overlooked. the truth is, everything just gets old after a while and interests will gravitate to something else. it's just human behavior.

[4Corners]

12 hours ago, Dr. Quest said:

Simple, quit kneeling, disrespecting the flag, military, law enforcement while saying you are oppressed while being a millionaire athlete.

hey snowflake - how do you explain the YUGE dip in attendance and TV ratings your beloved NASCAR has felt over the past decade? There's not much "disreespektin duh flag and duh armies" in that sport.

[4Corners]

 

1 hour ago, rayzor said:

the number of of cord cutters are growing across the board. major networks are losing traction to online services at a rate higher than the NFL is losing viewers.

i think there are plenty of reasons why major networks are losing viewers in different genres, but the above article has a good explanation for it that makes a whole lot more sense and is more rational than any agendas getting pushed.

over-saturation was definitely a risk, but they had to strike while the iron was hot. viewership and popularity was growing at an unsustainable level, largely due to fantasy football, which is also on the decline and has been for a couple years.

what we have is a market correction. you can find all kinds of causes, but it was unavoidable. people will find various reasons for it looking for the smoking gun, but there is never just one smoking gun for something as big as this.

some will say that they quit watching because of all the politics getting pulled in, but really it's just because people are losing interest. people always do what they really want to do and won't let anything stand in their way. when they lose interest, they'll start allowing excuses and reasons in that otherwise they would have overlooked. the truth is, everything just gets old after a while and interests will gravitate to something else. it's just human behavior.

I still love watching the NFL and love my Panthers - but my interest in the NFL in general has dipped the past couple of years, and I the flag stuff has very little, if any, to do with it. There is over exposure and over saturation of the sport. It really is a year long league now. IMHO - they have focused on expanding the game, whilst they should have been focusing on improving the product. The Thursday night games aren't fun. Most of them are terrible. The officiating is probably the worst in America aside from College hoops....the refs have have a direct impact on games.....and not to mention the phony Captain Americas that cry about the flag stuff yet turn the other cheek when guys get DWIs, get arrested, put their hands on women etc. Not to mention it costs me a small fortune to attend a live NFL game. this is the first time in like 10 years I didn't make it to a home game. 

And now....these republican businessmen who are probably going to buy the team are going to cry and cry and the hold the city hostage if they don't get some corporate welfare to build a new stadium that they don't need. Sad!

[4Corners]

3 hours ago, imminent rogaine said:

Then only people I know that "boycott" because of kneeling either didnt watch the NFL to begin with or are the same ones complaining about an overturned catch in the third quarter of a chargers broncos game. 

i know several military people who couldn't care less about the kneeling

[kungfoodude]

12 hours ago, Dr. Quest said:

Oh please, look at the social media uproar, it's not about officiating,  it's about the anti-American kneeling, look at all the videos of people burning their season tickets,  jerseys, and NFL memorbelia...Facebook alone has thousands and thousands boycotting the NFL because of the anti-American protest....wake up man!!

Social media is the perfect way to be misinformed.

[davos]

I understand most of the positions taken in here (most keyword haha) regarding over-saturation, poor products, and game flow, however, I think there's an even more apparent one.

NFL football is simply shifting out of the social zeitgeist and it's clear as day.  Younger generations are just not as interested in the sport and honestly, the whole ritual of sitting down on a Sunday with friends/family to watch football is just not really part of a large amount of people's lives anymore, just like many big trends have phased out in the past.  We're hiking, traveling, going to weird trendy breweries, doing the whole smorgasbord of what people would label "millennial" activities.  It's trending down due to regional and cultural shifts.  I would personally love to see the numbers drawn out to region by region and state by state.  

Being in North County SD, it's harder to find people who watch the NFL than don't. People are surfing, hitting up the beach, and just getting out there on the weekends.  Sure, there's always been a lack of interest in the NFL in southern cal, but I do think this resonates in more areas around the country.  

 

[4Corners]

2 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Social media is the perfect way to be misinformed.

100% correct. The sample size that snowflake is using can easily be skewed. How much of that "uproar" is from Russian bots, Trump bots, etc? 

there are many, many factors why the NFL attendance/ratings could be down and I am certain the flag stuff has very little to do with it. 

[4Corners]

Just now, davos said:

I understand most of the positions taken in here (most keyword haha) regarding over-saturation, poor products, and game flow, however, I think there's an even more apparent one.

NFL football is simply shifting out of the social zeitgeist and it's clear as day.  Younger generations are just not as interested in the sport and honestly, the whole ritual of sitting down on a Sunday with friends/family to watch football is just not really part of a large amount of people's lives anymore, just like many big trends have phased out in the past.  We're hiking, traveling, going to weird trendy breweries, doing the whole smorgasbord of what people would label "millennial" activities.  It's trending down due to regional and cultural shifts.  I would personally love to see the number drawn out to region by region and state by state.  

Being in North County SD, it's harder to find people who watch the NFL than don't. People are surfing, hitting up the beach, and just getting out there on the weekends.  Sure, there's always been a lack of interest in the NFL in southern cal, but I do think this resonates in more areas around the country.  

 

good post and agree w/ a lot of this. My son is very young but he is not going to be playing football. I've already made that clear to my wife and will make it clear to my son when the time comes. And again, the flag protests have nothing to do with this decision. It's too dangerous and the consequences aren't worth it. 

[kungfoodude]

1 hour ago, 4Corners said:

100% correct. The sample size that snowflake is using can easily be skewed. How much of that "uproar" is from Russian bots, Trump bots, etc? 

there are many, many factors why the NFL attendance/ratings could be down and I am certain the flag stuff has very little to do with it. 

I believe there some polling data that indicated that a pretty good chunk of the "outraged" portion of the population didn't watch the NFL anyway. The drop in ratings isn't an accident, it's been headed that way since the NFL decided to spam almost every day of the week with games. It waters down the product and the interest in it. And, as stated by many, the ways people view any media content is changing dramatically and in ways that are skewing traditional TV ratings metrics.

I have no doubt that interest in the NFL is waning but the major reasons have little to do with the protests. What minimal impact the loss of those viewers has had is a drop in the bucket by comparison. Furthermore, it would be interesting to see the attendance data over that span as well. If the protests had such a big impact, it should be seen in that realm as well.

[davos]

17 minutes ago, 4Corners said:

good post and agree w/ a lot of this. My son is very young but he is not going to be playing football. I've already made that clear to my wife and will make it clear to my son when the time comes. And again, the flag protests have nothing to do with this decision. It's too dangerous and the consequences aren't worth it. 

Agreed.  I love my Panthers but this is the first year since the late-90s where I've been more into the NBA than the NFL, even with as bad as the Hornets are right now.  The games are fun live, are part of a fun night out, there's 81 games in a season which makes it a fun ordeal, and there's crazy good talent again.  Giannis, Curry, Embiid, Irving, Durant, Mitchell, Davis, Anthony-Towns, Kuzma, Ball, while we still have Lebron in action.  This year is finally not a given Warriors-Cavs championship and honest, it's fun again.  

I still enjoy watching football (wouldn't be posting here if not true) but if I'm not at at friend's house or at a good NFL bar for the atmosphere, it's via streaming redzone.  I don't have cable, hate the commercials, and stoppage time has become ridiculous.  The flow of the game is just not good with the modern rules, however, you can get glued back into it when a team has an awesome uninterrupted drive by some BS holding penalties, reviews, or just poor officiating.  

[The Huddler]

Just from my personal life..

 

my father in law who is a steelers fan and a veteran conpletly dropped the steelers and NFL after the whole stay in tunnel thing. That was very putting off to him

 

my father stopped watching because he was a chargers fan who grew up in san diego, and was pissed that his team moved. Stopped watching. 

 

People can say this or that, but there are people who have cut off the NFL this year. 

[ok2h8pep]

Let's not forget age demographics.   There is a substantial difference in number of consumers between the baby boomer and the Gen Xer's - something like 2 boomers for every 1 Gen X'er.   There are almost as many millennials as there are boomers but maybe they aren't as fanatical about football as the boomers are.

Put simply, it's possible that a lot of NFL fans are dieing or getting too old to care and there are not enough physical bodies to replace these numbers.