NFL Television ratings

[C.Biscuit97]

 

Agree. No game continuity for the reasons you mention. I'd add injuries to that too. I am enjoying College ball more than ever now. A much better product for the football purist...IMHO.

College football is much, much better. The only part that ruins it for me is the players get screwed and there are some slimy coaches.

[Mr. WEO]

Related topic: the 6-6 tie Sunday night game destroyed MLBs pennant series games in the ratings.

 

The NFL isn't worried. They absolutely own network sports ratings and will always. No reason to believe otherwise.

[boyst]

Standard BS from a guy that makes 32 million a year kissng the asses of billionaires. nothing too see here.

that's what they elect him to do

[Mr. WEO]

that's what they elect him to do

 

 

It is amazing that people here and elsewhere still can't figure this out. But that confusion is exactly what the 32 owners pay for.

[GunnerBill]

It isn't just a US trend either. Over here Premier League soccer viewing figures are down for the first time in almost forever and are down 19%. I don't believe those people have stopped watching and being interested in the sport.... any more than I believe that has happened in the NFL.

 

What has changed has a person's ability to follow their favourite sports team without needing to carve 2-3 hours out of their weekend to do it. You can still see the TDs basically as they happen on social media without needing to watch the game.

 

People consume all TV in a different way now but especially tv sport.

[8-8 Forever?]

They (ratings)seem to be slipping early on here in the 2016-17 season. I'm guessing most here are not in this population of folks tuning out. They are saying its the Kaepernick thing and the NFL encouraging the Anthem antics. Who knows? Games have been one-sided too...doesn't help. A lot of cord cutters (of cable and satellite ) may be a contributor as well. At some point this may come to a head from those paying 700K for a 30 second spot. Myself..I've tuned out for none-of-the-above but instead due to the lack of flow to the games and an anemic pace due to excessive commercials.

 

Just an observation on my part, thats all.

 

“The league has now seen an apple-to-apples ratings drop in each of the seven prime-time games this year,”

 

http://dailycaller.com/2016/09/21/nfl-tv-ratings-down-again/

 

GO BILLS !

 

 

 

 

My approach is simple and born of 16 years of suck: Home games: record them and begin playback about 40 minutes after the game has actually started. Do something else until 1:40pm (mow the lawn, fix this, fix that). Don't look at scores. Begin watching at 1:40pm, fast forwarding through the commercials (and halftime BS) gets you pretty much into the second half (where commercials are fewer in number). Ride it out from there. For away games or home games where the likelihood of loss is high (like this Sunday), record the game, go enjoy something else for the afternoon (no watching football). Check the score at 4pm , if win, grab a beer(s) watch the replay in 60 minutes by blowing through the commercials and worthless halftime crap.. If lose, delete the game, not worth the angst after 16 years of suck. Someday when they become a playoff calibre team, go back to normal viewing . Pretty unusual approach, but it works for me. The combination of watching crappy Bills play combined with 1000 commercial breaks has driven me to this.

Edited October 26, 2016 by 8and8-->NoMore

[Dave in Avon Lake now]

I agree with almost every post I've seen. Maybe its because the Bills have been so unwatchable, but I've cut the cord on live games and just record Bills games for Monday viewing. I guess because I do that, I really notice the nonsensical amount of commercials and in game useless banter in the games I've recorded. I don't think it is Kaepernick (although I don't agree with his stance) because pregame is rarely shown. I also agree the quality of games on both Thursday and Monday nights has been so bad this year. If I were ESPN, I'd want my money back.

[May Day 10]

not sure it has been mentioned, to add to my other thoughts:

 

 

Emotionally, watching a Bills game (or any game)... and anything happens, it is tough to get excited, especially on a close play (which should be the most exciting). You need to scan the field for flags first. Then you need to sit there and worry about what the replay will show and whether there will be a "challenge". Then possibly wait for an official "Review" which often conveniently is long enough to fit some commercials. IMO it deflates the game and for some inexplicable reason, the NHL and MLB are trying to emulate this soul-sucking practice. Often, you have to wait for the next play to start before exhaling.

 

Im telling you, I would rather have my team(s) get screwed by an onfield ref and lose a championship... if it meant the abolishment of replay/reviews.

Edited October 26, 2016 by May Day 10

[ALF]

Wonder if people who lose money at fantasy football stop watching.

[dave mcbride]

not sure it has been mentioned, to add to my other thoughts:

 

 

Emotionally, watching a Bills game (or any game)... and anything happens, it is tough to get excited, especially on a close play (which should be the most exciting). You need to scan the field for flags first. Then you need to sit there and worry about what the replay will show and whether there will be a "challenge". Then possibly wait for an official "Review" which often conveniently is long enough to fit some commercials. IMO it deflates the game and for some inexplicable reason, the NHL and MLB are trying to emulate this soul-sucking practice. Often, you have to wait for the next play to start before exhaling.

 

Im telling you, I would rather have my team(s) get screwed by an onfield ref and lose a championship... if it meant the abolishment of replay/reviews.

The issue isn't reviews; it's how the nfl does it. Mlb does it rapidly and doesn't cut away to ads. It doesn't hurt the flow of the game there; whereas in the nfl viewers dread challenges given that it means 3 minutes of ads.

[ALF]

The issue isn't reviews; it's how the nfl does it. Mlb does it rapidly and doesn't cut away to ads. It doesn't hurt the flow of the game there; whereas in the nfl viewers dread challenges given that it means 3 minutes of ads.

 

Maybe 3 minutes of cheer leaders would work

[BADOLBILZ]

The issue isn't reviews; it's how the nfl does it. Mlb does it rapidly and doesn't cut away to ads. It doesn't hurt the flow of the game there; whereas in the nfl viewers dread challenges given that it means 3 minutes of ads.

 

[May Day 10]

The issue isn't reviews; it's how the nfl does it. Mlb does it rapidly and doesn't cut away to ads. It doesn't hurt the flow of the game there; whereas in the nfl viewers dread challenges given that it means 3 minutes of ads.

 

 

You still get that effect though. Say, in an extreme circumstance, you are in the crowd at an MLB game in the playoffs (where the crowd is excitable). In a tie game, your guy on third breaks to the plate to steal home, bringing the crowd out to their feet and its a very close play, looks iffy, but the umpire calls him safe dramatically/enthusiastically. In the old days, you can just go nuts and have the run chalked up officially that moment. Now there is a degree of trepidation that stifles the enthusiasm. Everyone watches the opposing manager, cranes their neck at the scoreboard waiting for a replay. Then the "challenge" happens. Even if it takes 30 seconds, the moment has been buffered. Then if the call is confirmed, there is an additional, kind of forced, much less primal celebration.

 

I think sports is much more exciting when the call on the field at the moment is what it is and everyone can react and move on with their lives. Sometimes mistakes happen, and that becomes part of the story/legend.

 

 

Now they expanded it in hockey with these horrible offsides challenges (that can only serve to take goals off the board), and challenges for goalie interference (a very subjective call)

Edited October 26, 2016 by May Day 10

[Roger Goodell]

The NFL understands certain fans have been critical of this season's prime time lineup, but I think all fans look forward to tuning in for tomorrow's AFC South matchup between the exciting Titans and improving Jaguars.

[Fadingpain]

The NFL understands certain fans have been critical of this season's prime time lineup, but I think all fans look forward to tuning in for tomorrow's AFC South matchup between the exciting Titans and improving Jaguars.

Yet another Thursday night stinker!

[Coach Tuesday]

The issue isn't reviews; it's how the nfl does it. Mlb does it rapidly and doesn't cut away to ads. It doesn't hurt the flow of the game there; whereas in the nfl viewers dread challenges given that it means 3 minutes of ads.

 

Correct.

 

To me the product has become much less watchable - sometimes unwatchable. I really think that the lack of practice time under the current CBA has watered down the game considerably. More and more games look like preseason matches, with both teams playing sloppily. Meanwhile the officiating is inconsistent at best and downright inexplicable and negligent a good portion of the time. And I think fans like me are tired of the NFL sticking its head in the sand about these things and just assuming that we'll shell out our hard-earned dollars on whatever miserable product they trot out there. So that's my issue - I watch fewer games (including Bills games) because it's just not a great product anymore. But I doubt Park Avenue is paying much attention to this. NFL owners are incredibly tone deaf and reactionary. They'll continue to view this decline as a blip until it's too late. As Mark Cuban said, "Pigs get slaughtered."

[xsoldier54]

Not surprising. People are tired of bad officiating, bad behavior by players, just plain bad football and now the anthem thing. I don't watch any games except the Bills anymore and I'm sure I'm not alone. Ratings for regional telecasts are about the same. It's the national games that are way down.

[Mr. WEO]

CBA practice rules changed 5 years ago. Contact rules re: DBs vs WRs years before that. Challenge rules also years ago. TV commercial breaks are set in contracts also developed years ago.

 

The issue is why the ratings have dropped of in one season (current). It's pretty obvious that it is the matchups are poorly projected when the schedules are created for nationaly televised games. This is likely because the NFL is the only league with significant parity and the only league that produces weekly nationally televised games that people actually watch.

 

So, the Cardinals were dominant last year, ditto for the Panthers. Both now pretty much suck. There was buzz that the Jags might be a playoff team. Seattle is always a draw. Etc....

 

They need a way to change the Thurs Mon games on the fly, like flexing a Sunday night game. Not sure how it can be done.

 

Other than that, the owners really need to get off their insane prohibition of anyone--even the teams themselves, fro posting game clips. There's no serious money being lost by allowing social media to overflow with NFL clips. The owners are pretty dense regarding this stuff and it's hurting them in the ratings.

[Mango]

I think they have saturated everything with football. There is so much of it on now, it is like trying to schedule a date on a Thursday, but the Sabres play. I always go on the date because there are a ton of other chances to watch hockey.

 

I would drop the Thursday nights. Part of football's draw was that it only happened on basically 1 day per week, with a special Monday night. Now there are 3 (4 if you add in London) games Sunday, and sometimes 2 on Thursday and Monday. Missing football has now become easy because there is always more on.

 

Add to that, that the game is so stop and start, it makes it easy to leave the game and watch something else. Watching on TV needs to be more fluid, and they need to reduce the amount of days they play per week. Also move Monday's and Thursdays off of ESPN/NFLN. Same thought as above. If I am a chord cutter (which there are a ton now), you miss both of those. It is easy to miss Sunday when you already missed the other two days.

[dpberr]

Free agency killed this league (and MLB). It's just been a slow bleed out. Teams can't retain talent for the long haul and build something so it's a lot of flash in the pan and mediocrity.

 

It's boring to watch.