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.”

[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.

[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.

[Valiant]

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.

I think it would be an interesting test. Run a contest for every team. Select one to two of the most knowledgeable fans on their teams. Then have them in the broadcast booth adding some flair and actual knowledge to the viewers. Friendly smacktalk. Have a professional in there also to keep things in line and moving forward.

[Bob Dole]

Originally Posted by Valiant

I think it would be an interesting test. Run a contest for every team. Select one to two of the most knowledgeable fans on their teams. Then have them in the broadcast booth adding some flair and actual knowledge to the viewers. Friendly smacktalk. Have a professional in there also to keep things in line and moving forward.

I got to lay the knowledge on an Arkansas fan today that Coastal Carolina one had a QB that made it to the NFL

[threebag]

Originally Posted by Bob Dole

I got to lay the knowledge on an Arkansas fan today that Coastal Carolina one had a QB that made it to the NFL

Hell Yeah

[beach tribe]

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.

I think people are sick of hearing about the Cowboys and all the ways their 7% chance to make the playoffs will unfold.

Seriously, though. People are sick of hearing the story lines about the media darlings and watching the same handful of teams have any shot a a ring.

95% Cowboys fans don't give a shit about football unless their team is championship caliber.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by beach tribe

I think people are sick of hearing about the Cowboys and all the ways their 7% chance to make the playoffs will unfold.

Seriously, though. People are sick of hearing the story lines about the media darlings and watching the same handful of teams have any shot a a ring.

95% Cowboys fans don't give a shit about football unless their team is championship caliber.

Perhaps our problem is too many people care even if the product sucks. With an owner that's 99% content with just the profits he'll get for just being an owner (so he can fund other things), the lack of outrage just enables him all the more.

[-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. I don't understand why no one is mentioning the rise of DVR and cord cutting/streaming as the major cause for falling ratings. I've watched every single Monday night genre this season and all of them were by stream.

Until they figure out a new metric for ratings, we're going to keep seeing falling ratings for tv shows, especially live events
Posted via Mobile Device

[dallaschiefsfan]

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. I don't understand why no one is mentioning the rise of DVR and cord cutting/streaming as the major cause for falling ratings. I've watched every single Monday night genre this season and all of them were by stream.

Until they figure out a new metric for ratings, we're going to keep seeing falling ratings for tv shows, especially live events
Posted via Mobile Device

They have been mentioning other sports...but the NFL has been seen as made out of Teflon - people will change their habits to watch. Well...they won't, now. That's news - and it's bad news for a league that has been a juggernaut. Baseball viewership down? Old news...it's become more of a regional audience for years.

Plus, don't downplay the actual decreases in viewership and the reasons therein. It's anecdotal, but I have plenty of friends who were die hard NFL viewers that have given up on the league the last two years (for excuses that range from "the fix is in" to the politicization of the sport they watch for escape and entertainment).

[Best22]

Where are OBJ, Watt, Luck, Berry, Edelman, Rodgers, and now Watson

So much star power on the sidelines. That's a factor

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by Best22

Where are OBJ, Watt, Luck, Berry, Edelman, Rodgers, and now Watson



So much star power on the sidelines. That's a factor

There are new stars in the making every year that interest people.

[Best22]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

There are new stars in the making every year that interest people.

True but none of them have the cache of those guys yet. Their replacements are boring. Brett Huntley? Jacoby Brissett?

[manchambo]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

There are new stars in the making every year that interest people.

It raises an interesting question, though: the NBA rating have actually improved this year.

The NBA has always been more of a star-oriented league--people tune in to watch Bird v. Magic, Jordan vs. whoever, Lebron, etc. And the nature of the game is such that season-ending injuries to these stars are less common.

Furthermore, by its nature the NBA is more star and personality oriented compared to the NFL, where you have many more players, offensive vs. defensive, etc.

Is it possible that, as our society becomes ever more celebrity-obsessed, a team game will suffer?

[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.