Why are MNF ratings low this season?

[dave mcbride]

Your Tribune link is bad, Dave.

 

Interesting that college football ratings are up:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-college-football-vs-nfl-20170921-story.html

Aargh - fixed it, but here it is again. I'm in northern Thailand right now and not on top of it. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-football-youth-decline-met-20170904-story.html

[MakeBuffaloGreatAgain]

Extremely overstated and "snowflake" is such a stupid/divisive term that's sullying the movie Fight Club for me. Those that won't watch football because of some players kneeling during the anthem aren't huge football fans to begin with.

Not true at all on your last point. I live and breathe Bills/NFL. At least I used to. 50% of my clothes are Bills apparel. I had XM radio just so I could listen to NFL talk all year long. But I had to cut the cord when these snowflakes made it about politics and hating our country, and not about football.

 

PS: snowflake is the perfect term for these hypersensitive nut jobs.

[sullim4]

The fact that it's on ESPN has everything to do with it.

 

I subscribe to DirecTV's select package. I don't get ESPN, FS1, etc. I'm pleased as punch that I'm not giving $8/mo to ESPN. If the Bills are on MNF next season (or, by some miracle, are on ESPN's wild card game), I'll just subscribe to the next package up for one month, then drop it.

 

Few things would make me happier than to see ESPN die a prolonged, horrible, painful death.

[Saxum]

Hate Thursday games. Not fair to players. Hate overseas games.

 

Thursday games should be during scheduled "bye" weeks for both teams even if it means two games are played - say one on East coast and one on West coast giving one game to each network.

See four weeks, long rest between games so not unfair. Yes no true bye week but that only becomes issue when bye week has to be used as makeup week like Miami-Tampa game. Would take some more scheduling factors but it would give all players a rest.

 

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The fact that it's on ESPN has everything to do with it.

 

I subscribe to DirecTV's select package. I don't get ESPN, FS1, etc. I'm pleased as punch that I'm not giving $8/mo to ESPN. If the Bills are on MNF next season (or, by some miracle, are on ESPN's wild card game), I'll just subscribe to the next package up for one month, then drop it.

 

Few things would make me happier than to see ESPN die a prolonged, horrible, painful death.

 

Few things would make me happier than to see DirecTV die a prolonged, horrible, painful death. I am not giving much more than $8/mo.

Edited October 18, 2017 by Limeaid

[Doc Brown]

It's a race war, really.

No. It's a culture war. An extremely dumb one.

[Stanley Lombardi]

They've managed to politicize a frickin football game. I give as much of a s*it what the left guard of the New Orleans Saints thinks about politics as the left guard of the New Orleans Saints gives about what I think of politics.

It 'tain't fun anymore.

[dayman]

I hontestly think people are less interested:

 

1. "Political" garbage obviously doesn't help

2. Penalties suck

3. Commercials and other breaks are way out of hand

4. Lack of good QB play is hurting the game

5. I think "casual" fans are slowly getting over fantasy (at least in terms of it increasing game watching)

 

Makes sense. You sit there and watch a bunch of commercials, penalties ruin about half of the drives most teams get going, there are commercial breaks constantly, and on top if it this kneeing thing is not popular.

[frostbitmic]

1. Poor officiating, Penalty flags on seemingly every other play makes watching the games a chore.

2. Enough of Tom Brady and the patriots* ... seriously, enough already.

3. Bye weeks ... This past weekend as an example didn't have the Bills, SeaHawks, Cowboys or Bengals playing, as you could see here, many Bills fans didn't care this weekend.

4. The cities of St. Louis and San Diego have just lost their teams and likely turned many of those fans off of the NFL. Raider fans in Oakland may have thrown in the towel already too.

5. Sunday night took over from Monday night years ago. Thursday nights just over saturate the market.

6. Bob Kraft, Jerry Jones and Roger Goodell are annoying and the NFL is their rats nest.

7. Stadium beer is too expensive

8. London games makes it possible for a football junkie to watch 4 games on Sundays ... Burns you out on Mondays.

9. After drinking heavily since Thursday night and working hungover on Monday , going to bed early on Monday is necessary.

10. Today's announcers make me miss Dan Dierdorf.

[mannc]

Not true at all on your last point. I live and breathe Bills/NFL. At least I used to. 50% of my clothes are Bills apparel. I had XM radio just so I could listen to NFL talk all year long. But I had to cut the cord when these snowflakes made it about politics and hating our country, and not about football.

Then what are you doing here?

[dpberr]

It's a stale product. At this point it's overproduced.

 

They could improve it by jettisoning the announcers and opinion and let the game play.

 

They should also start the clever intros TNF started doing. Those are offshoots from how NBC and CBS would intro games in the 80s.

[8-8 Forever?]

For me it is NFL Red Zone.

 

After watching a Sunday full of football with no commercials or downtime, it is almost impossible to watch a regularly televised game.

 

I think Red Zone is also taking away from game attendance and Sunday viewership as well

red zone is tremendous, yes bc no delays, all action, basically live highlights

[Philly McButterpants]

A) the number of commercial breaks/length of game. everything is a reason for a TV timeout it's annoying.

B) Officiating is atrocious, and blatantly biased towards bigger markets/better draws. I've said for years that the WWE has better officiating than does the NFL.

[Just in Atlanta]

Cord cutting.

So many streaming options.

Red Zone, Sunday Ticket, etc.

Over saturation due to TNF. Just not special anymore.

Less middle class interested due to CTE.

Over officiating.

Protests have also had an effect.

[Cripple Creek]

Diluted prime time product.

 

You have Thursday stand alone games.

You have Sunday night stand alone games.

You have Monday night stand alone games.

 

You have Fox and CBS paying umpteen kazillion dollars for "normal" Sunday afternoon games.

 

Each network needs its share of compelling match ups to keep the brass happy.

 

 

 

You have schedules made in April(?). How hot a property will GB be going forward?

You have a too many unwatchable teams. Who outside of the fan base is interested in watching a team like Buffalo?

 

 

[SoCal Deek]

It's a race war, really.

That's exactly what the anarchists aligned with the Left want you to think. We live in the most diverse country in the history of civilization. Look around you!

[Chuck Wagon]

 

It has nothing to do with people watching or not watching the anthem. It has to do with many conservative Americans turning away from the NFL due to a perceived disrespect of the anthem and therefore the military, by some NFL players. In reality, I believe it is a combination of all of the above. The product on the field is watered down and the NFL owners seem a bit out of touch.

 

Is it only MNF that has lower numbers? I am under the impression that ratings and attendance are down across the board.

 

 

Please. The snowflakes that aren't watching because of the anthem are a drop in the bucket.

 

It has much more to do with terrible matchups, the slog that is watching only 1 game due to commercials and stoppages and over saturation of the product.

 

Redzone is readily available now and is a way better product than what they've done to the flow of singular games, I know I can't be the only one that can't stomach a primetime game after the 7 hour barrage of no commercials and constant action.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

I read a few months ago that TV ratings in general are down. It has nothing to do with the NFL. People are finding new ways to watch.

[Mat68]

Espn seems to have the less attractive TV deal with the NFL. From my understanding, CBS and FOX get to pick an AFC and NFC matchup each week. NBC gets the next pick with the ability to flip flop with either network later in the year. Then Thursday night and Monday night fight over the rest. Monday and Thursday night are tough because they are in the middle of the standard work week. Both run til midnight. For rating to improve Monday and Thursday the telecasts need to be creative so they avoid commerical, kick , commercial. They are at the point of over saturation. Thursday games are always sloppy because they don't have adequate time to prepare.

Edited October 18, 2017 by Mat68

[billsfan_34]

 

You have to think of it in business owner sense. Its not literally losing a dollar. If business owner makes x amount one year and the next year they make x - 1 dollar, they look at it as if they lost a dollar. The term "profits are down" doesn't mean they lost more money then they made. It means they didn't make as much as last year or whatever amount of time.[/quote

 

Good take- anothervariable to consider tho- NFL ratings are way down.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Espn seems to have the less attractive TV deal with the NFL. From my understanding, CBS and FOX get to pick an AFC and NFC matchup each week. NBC gets the next pick with the ability to flip flop with either network later in the year. Then Thursday night and Monday night fight over the rest. Monday and Thursday night are tough because they are in the middle of the standard work week. Both run til midnight. For rating to improve Monday and Thursday the telecasts need to be creative so they avoid commerical, kick , commercial. They are at the point of over saturation. Thursday games are always sloppy because they don't have adequate time to prepare.

Still #1 show on TV. Advertisers will continue dumping money into the #1 show.

 

Not sure how they account for people that don't watch at home, but I haven't watched a Bills game at home in 3 years. I watch on NFL mobile on my phone. One of the reasons I have a huge 6" phone. I never miss a Bills game.

 

Also can't remember the last time I watched anything through cable. I watch using apps. I pay for cable, but I just use my smart TV to access everything.

 

I'm probably one of the few that still pays for cable but uses apps to access TV. Cable subscribers are dropping. TV ratings are dropping.

 

It's not rocket science.

Edited October 18, 2017 by TheTruthHurts