NFL Excuses Run Out After Ratings Declines Continue

[Eleazar]

NFL's Litany of Excuses Runs Out After Ratings Fall for Second Year

By Lucas Shaw
Bloomberg.com
November 2, 2017, 11:30 AM CDT



TV networks are running out of excuses for the dwindling popularity of the National Football League.

They blamed the election for ratings declines last year, and hurricanes for a soft week one in September. Protests during the national anthem, and President Donald Trump’s criticism of the league, have faded from the headlines.

Advertisers are starting to believe a different explanation: the viewers aren’t coming back. Audiences are down an average 7 percent from a year ago through the first eight weeks of the season, excluding last Monday. That’s on top of a decrease of about 8 percent last season that spurred numerous changes in the broadcasts, from shorter commercials to better matchups earlier in the year.

“There’s just not as many people watching TV the way they used to watch TV,” said Jeremy Carey, managing director of Optimum Sports, a sports marketing agency. “It’s going to be an issue for advertisers when they can’t reach a large-scale audience the way they have.”

With CBS Corp., 21st Century Fox Inc. and Walt Disney Co. set to report earnings in the next few days, analysts are bound to raise questions. These companies have used the popularity of the games to extract additional fees from cable operators, promote other shows on their networks and sell lots of commercials. Pro football games drew about $3.5 billion in ad spending last year, including the postseason, according to SMI Media Inc.

Media companies have spent billions of dollars on the right to air football games, which had been immune to the erosion of viewership for other TV programming. Audiences for TV networks have diminished for years as the growing popularity of online alternatives Netflix and YouTube and the availability of most shows on-demand have reduced the appeal of dramas and comedies. Live TV, like sports, was supposed to be immune, but that theory looks highly questionable now.

Ratings for the NFL suggest the same societal trends are now affecting the league, even if the declines aren’t as dramatic. The drop in game viewership ranges from 5 percent for NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” to 11 percent for the CBS Sunday package. “Monday Night Football,” on Disney’s ESPN, has attracted more fans this year than a year ago, but the numbers are still down from 2015.

Viewership of the four main broadcast networks fell 8.7 percent last year, and 12 percent among adults 18 to 49, an important demographic for advertisers.

CBS’s 11 percent slump for NFL games is the steepest of the networks. Its parent company, which reports earnings after the close Thursday, is more vulnerable than rivals to the trend because the vast majority of its earnings come from the broadcast network. The declines at CBS reinforce a complaint that has gotten louder and louder in recent weeks: The league got greedy in adding the Thursday night game on broadcast.

Reserving top games for Thursday night robbed other time periods of good match-ups. After a nosedive in ratings at “Monday Night Football” last season, the league has scheduled better games for that time period, further damaging Sunday afternoon.

“Ratings declines on both general entertainment and NFL programming could be the single biggest point of focus for investors this quarter, and we’re not sure what media companies can say about the health and tone of the ad market to assuage fears,” Steven Cahall, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a note last month.

Viewership is dropping fast among people under 54 -- a key demographic for advertisers -- and even faster among those 18 to 34. Audiences for games on CBS, NBC and Fox have slid at least 10 percent among that younger cohort.

Advertisers aren’t abandoning the NFL, one of the only places they can still reach more than 10 million people at once. But they are growing concerned. John Schnatter, who appears in TV spots on behalf of his Papa John’s Pizza International Inc., laid into the league on a conference call this week, blaming the ratings for his company’s slow revenue growth and calling for the league to put an end to player protests.

Networks and other advertisers identify a wide range of reasons for the NFL’s struggles. The league has overexposed itself by making highlights available on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Snapchat. Identifiable stars like Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers have either retired or gotten hurt. The quality of play has deteriorated. Player protests and concussions have driven away some fans.

Some executives argue viewership of the league has still improved over the long term while dropping for every other show. Yet the amount of time people have spent watching football this season is at the lowest point since 2011, back when there were fewer televised games, according to Mike Mulvihill, Fox Sports’ head of research.

“The cumulative effect of everything happening in the world at large is having an impact on NFL viewership,” Mulvihill said. “ The league was defying the laws of gravity.”

[jjchieffan]

Maybe people are smarter than they think and they are seeing the league fix a Superfarce for a retiring Manning. Then they lose interest. I know that football has lost a lot of appeal for me once I realized that it wasn't a pure competition anymore.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by MichaelH

One thing they could do is to make the games more accessible to other viewing mediums like MLB does. As the article states, more people just aren't watching TV the way they used to.

Maybe another thing to do is get rid of the announcers. I find them mostly irritating and turn down the game and turn up the music.

It's one of a million things. First, get rid of that ridiculous directv contract. If people are cutting the cord why would you force them to buy a ridiculous dish? The nfl already offers streaming but you can't get it without directv. You're absolutely right, mlb is one of the few sports with higher ratings and its because they embraced streaming.

It's another example where the nfl chose profit over popularity. When you do that for 20 years, it catches up to you. Sports are most popular when more people watch frequently. The nfl, on the other hand, has priced out many fans from the ridiculously expensive game day experience, they've priced fans out of jerseys because of licensing deals, they've cut off access to millions of viewers who'd gladly buy nfl Sunday ticket if it didn't require access to a dish.

On top of that... Injuries have made the game unbearable, way too many flags, a commissioner who would enforces rules to boost fantasy football numbers, an overdramatic personal conduct enforcement... Yeah, I find myself not loving the nfl like I used to.

[PAChiefsGuy]

Too many penalties for hard hits, ridiculous fines, constant rule changes, Thursday night games that leave teams unprepared/tired, the London games and protests have killed the NFL. It is only going to get worse until these owners learn to just leave the sport alone and stop being so greedy.

IMO it's these billionaire businessmen who probably have never played any sports in their life that are ruining this game because of their greed.

[TEX]

Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy

Too many penalties for hard hits, ridiculous fines, constant rule changes, Thursday night games that leave teams unprepared/tired, the London games and protests have killed the NFL. It is only going to get worse until these owners learn to just leave the sport alone and stop being so greedy.

IMO it's these billionaire businessmen who probably have never played any sports in their life that are ruining this game because of their greed.

Yea, I never watch the London games (I think that's such a waste) and rarely watch the Thursday games. Not a fan of even having them. It's just too much and way too soon of a turnaround for the players. I also don't watch all the games on Sunday anymore because of all the rules changes, what defines a catch, bad calls, etc.... Once the Chiefs game is done, so am I.

[ChiefGator]

Yeah, they need to change the way we can access the games. Being out of market, I almost never get Chiefs games on my home tele ( this year of course being a pretty major exception to our primetime games ). If I could select my own game to watch ( and even pay for that single game ) I would watch more each week. I have to look at that dumb NFL coverage map each week to determine which stupid games I get, and which are blacked out completely since I live in Jax, but don't give a hoot about the Jags.

[ChiefGator]

Originally Posted by TEX

Yea, I never watch the London games and rarely watch the Thursday games. It's just too much. I also don't watch all the games on Sunday anymore. Once the Chiefs game is done, so am I.

Yeah, it is also over-exposure in games that I don't care about. This is the time of year each year where I lose interest in any non-Chiefs games.. even while playing fantasy football.

[notorious]

I used to watch every game possible, now it's just Chiefs, and even then I am thinking about doing something else.

I am probably in the minority, but it's officiating for me. The game is harder and harder to watch.

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by notorious

I used to watch every game possible, now it's just Chiefs, and even then I am thinking about doing something else.

I am probably in the minority, but it's officiating for me. The game is harder and harder to watch.

I used to be the same way. Now I listen to the chiefs on nfl mobile more than watch them on tv. Easier and less time consuming.

[TEX]

Originally Posted by notorious

I used to watch every game possible, now it's just Chiefs, and even then I am thinking about doing something else.

I am probably in the minority, but it's officiating for me. The game is harder and harder to watch.

The officiating has done me in too for Sunday games. I can barely stomach it watching the Chiefs, but to see it game after game is maddening.
So, no more.

[oldman]

Get rid of the Thursday game, period. The only time I watch that and even MNF is when the Chiefs play. Streaming isn't an option for me since my internet is capped and very expensive, but I would like to have a single game PPV option on my dish.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy

Too many penalties for hard hits, ridiculous fines, constant rule changes, Thursday night games that leave teams unprepared/tired, the London games and protests have killed the NFL. It is only going to get worse until these owners learn to just leave the sport alone and stop being so greedy.

IMO it's these billionaire businessmen who probably have never played any sports in their life that are ruining this game because of their greed.

I'm on the opposite end of the hard hits thing. The nfl hasn't don't nearly enough to stop them. I'm tired of the nfl being a gladiator battle where a few lucky teams limp into the playoffs with their starters. The number 1 thing the nfl can do is figure out how to keep the players on the damn field.

[Loneiguana]

Originally Posted by -King-

Name one sport whose ratings didn't go down.

I don't get why people are trying to make it just the NFLs problem as if other leagues aren't seeing falling ratings.

Some uppity black men made them uncomfortable and in their temper tantrum they want to watch it all burn.

They were reminded they hate the players more then the love the game.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy

Too many penalties for hard hits, ridiculous fines, constant rule changes, Thursday night games that leave teams unprepared/tired, the London games and protests have killed the NFL. It is only going to get worse until these owners learn to just leave the sport alone and stop being so greedy.

IMO it's these billionaire businessmen who probably have never played any sports in their life that are ruining this game because of their greed.

Originally Posted by notorious

I used to watch every game possible, now it's just Chiefs, and even then I am thinking about doing something else.

I am probably in the minority, but it's officiating for me. The game is harder and harder to watch.

Yes and yes!

[scho63]

Originally Posted by Loneiguana

Some uppity black men made them uncomfortable and in their temper tantrum they want to watch it all burn.

They were reminded they hate the players more then the love the game.

Your DOTY was well earned!

[threebag]

"Inmates are running the prison"