SNF ratings for huge Cowboys/Rams game has to ring the alarm bells for the NFL (2 Viewers)

[Saint_Ward]

Looks like they updated that article.

Still, don’t sound the gridiron alarm yet.

Even with two teams with big national fanbases on the field, SNF’s waning result may not be indicative of another season of declining fan interest. There was a stark contrast from NBC’s primetime SNF to Fox’s broadcast earlier that same day of the match-up between Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the winning New Orleans Saints and QB Drew Brees.

Billed as a Battle of GOATs, that afternoon game snared a whooping audience of 25.9 million, an 8% bump from the comparative showdown of 2019.

BTW – When digital platform numbers are added in, SNF moved up to 19.5 million viewers.

 

[drewman]

The networks are already prepared to pay three billion dollars more for the TV rights.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/sports/football/nfl-tv-broadcast-ads.html

From the article, "Tom McGovern, president of the sports marketing agency Optimum Sports, said that companies saw the N.F.L. as a “safe haven” and a “beacon of hope.” After ad spending slumped in the pandemic, football will capture “a greater share of a smaller pie,” he said.

Except that what the advertisers are seeing is that it's that exact opposite of a safe haven, much less a greater share of the smaller pie. They're losing their share of the pie that they've grown so accustomed to. In a year where the NFL has had almost zero competition for viewership, they are still consistently down from previous years. You can blame it on cutting the chord all you want but business is business. Less eyeballs equals less investment.

 

[gavinj]

From the article, "Tom McGovern, president of the sports marketing agency Optimum Sports, said that companies saw the N.F.L. as a “safe haven” and a “beacon of hope.” After ad spending slumped in the pandemic, football will capture “a greater share of a smaller pie,” he said.

Except that what the advertisers are seeing is that it's that exact opposite of a safe haven, much less a greater share of the smaller pie. They're losing their share of the pie that they've grown so accustomed to. In a year where the NFL has had almost zero competition for viewership, they are still consistently down from previous years. You can blame it on cutting the chord all you want but business is business. Less eyeballs equals less investment.

Yeah, sure.

$3.72B in Advertising Riding on NFL Playing Season

With the NFL about to hold its draft virtually because restrictions have been placed on events with large audiences in order to limit the spread of the Coronavirus, new data from Standard Media Index

www.nexttv.com

 

[Dago]

Yes let's just pretend that there aren't any other variables this year other than the political movement that you disagree with and think freedom of speech only exists when you agree with it
When you factor in sports overload, people using digital and pirated platforms instead of traditional platforms, the fact that a great deal of the country is dealing with depression which leads to disinterest and a short attention span, and that most of the country doesn't give 2 shots about the cowboys or rams, it is pretty amazing they got the numbers they did

But no....2020 is completely normal and a political movement is the only thing that could possibly influence viewership right now

 

[drewman]

Yes let's just pretend that there aren't any other variables this year other than the political movement that you disagree with and think freedom of speech only exists when you agree with it
When you factor in sports overload, people using digital and pirated platforms instead of traditional platforms, the fact that a great deal of the country is dealing with depression which leads to disinterest and a short attention span, and that most of the country doesn't give 2 shots about the cowboys or rams, it is pretty amazing they got the numbers they did

But no....2020 is completely normal and a political movement is the only thing that could possibly influence viewership right now

Not saying 2020 is normal. Anyone with a brain can clearly see that.

What sport overload are you referring to exactly? Because I'm struggling to figure out what the US is being overloaded with at this point. If anything, there are less sports being broadcasted live in any other year in the last 20 years.

And by the way, just so we're clear, the 1st amendment is freedom of speech, religion, and peaceful protest from the government. It doesn't mean that you can protest whatever you want and expect that there won't be any negative consequences from the free market. Yes, the NFL can and is allowing their employees to protest, but the free market is rejecting that as their own way of protesting.

 

[drewman]

Yes let's just pretend that there aren't any other variables this year other than the political movement that you disagree with and think freedom of speech only exists when you agree with it
When you factor in sports overload, people using digital and pirated platforms instead of traditional platforms, the fact that a great deal of the country is dealing with depression which leads to disinterest and a short attention span, and that most of the country doesn't give 2 shots about the cowboys or rams, it is pretty amazing they got the numbers they did

But no....2020 is completely normal and a political movement is the only thing that could possibly influence viewership right now

This whole chord cutting argument just completely blows my mind. That close to 20% of people in 2020 just all of a sudden decided to "cut the chord" and stop watching live professional sports is ridiculous. The only thing that will prove my point is after 4 weeks of the same thing happening with consistently lower ratings will people realize that it is a trend and not an aberration.

If I'm wrong I'll own up to it.

 

[Dago]

This whole chord cutting argument just completely blows my mind. That close to 20% of people in 2020 just all of a sudden decided to "cut the chord" and stop watching live professional sports is ridiculous. The only thing that will prove my point is after 4 weeks of the same thing happening with consistently lower ratings will people realize that it is a trend and not an aberration.

If I'm wrong I'll own up to it.

Cord Cutting Statistics for 2020 - NoCable

Cord cutting now accounts for 19.9% of US households in 2020, raising their numbers to a staggering total of 25.3 million.

nocable.org

 

[gavinj]

This whole chord cutting argument just completely blows my mind. That close to 20% of people in 2020 just all of a sudden decided to "cut the chord" and stop watching live professional sports is ridiculous. The only thing that will prove my point is after 4 weeks of the same thing happening with consistently lower ratings will people realize that it is a trend and not an aberration.

If I'm wrong I'll own up to it.

Around a million more people watched the Saints vs Bucs game than the LSU vs Clemson national championship game. Think about that for a sec.

 

[drewman]

Cord Cutting Statistics for 2020 - NoCable

Cord cutting now accounts for 19.9% of US households in 2020, raising their numbers to a staggering total of 25.3 million.

nocable.org

So Dago, thanks for actually not name calling me a R-word by the way. If the trend of viewership stays down close to 15% over the next 4-5 weeks, you're saying that it is people who are cutting the chord?

I would tend to agree that millennials aren't paying for cable, but then again I don't view them as the hard-core NFL fans either.

 

[drewman]

Around a million more people watched the Saints vs Bucs game than the LSU vs Clemson national championship game. Think about that for a sec.

Is it (another popular explanation) cable cord cutting? Well, that would depress every cable network’s ratings, right? Nope, cable news is setting all time records.

TV Ratings: Cable News Has Record-Setting Second Quarter

All three major cable news networks set ratings records in the second quarter of 2020.

t.co

 

[Dago]

So Dago, thanks for actually not name calling me a R-word by the way. If the trend of viewership stays down close to 15% over the next 4-5 weeks, you're saying that it is people who are cutting the chord?

I would tend to agree that millennials aren't paying for cable, but then again I don't view them as the hard-core NFL fans either.

No I am saying there are a variety of variables at work coupled with the fact that when the west coast numbers were factored in, the discrepancy wasn't near as large

 

[drewman]

Around a million more people watched the Saints vs Bucs game than the LSU vs Clemson national championship game. Think about that for a sec.

And while that was the best game of the week...

'Monday Night Football' TV Ratings Plunge From 2019 in Opening Week Doubleheader - TheWrap

Both games were down by double digits from last year's counterparts

www.thewrap.com

 

[drewman]

No I am saying there are a variety of variables at work coupled with the fact that when the west coast numbers were factored in, the discrepancy wasn't near as large

But you'd agree that they are down significantly from previous years though right?

 

[Saint Jack]

Is it (another popular explanation) cable cord cutting? Well, that would depress every cable network’s ratings, right? Nope, cable news is setting all time records.

TV Ratings: Cable News Has Record-Setting Second Quarter

All three major cable news networks set ratings records in the second quarter of 2020.

t.co

And the NFL still beats cable news. If you look at the chart of Monday’s ratings I posted earlier. You can see a breakdown in demos. The majority of cable news is in the older demos, ones that major companies pay little attention too.
Now look at the majority of the NFL’s viewers. People in their teens, twenties, and thirties. The most sought after demo for advertisers.

 

[drewman]

And the NFL still beats cable news. If you look at the chart of Monday’s ratings I posted earlier. You can see a breakdown in demos. The majority of cable news is in the older demos, ones that major companies pay little attention too.
Now look at the majority of the NFL’s viewers. People in their teens, twenties, and thirties. The most sought after demo for advertisers.

I already agreed with you on that point. The NFL will consistently outdraw your average cable news show on whatever channel. But when your normal audience drops by a significant amount, in this case almost 20% (granted it's only one week), the owners of said business are going to start asking questions about why this is happening. And I don't think that, "it's lots of chord cutters" is going to be an acceptable response from Roger go to Hell.