Posted on 09/17/2018 9:34:36 AM PDT by 11th_VA
The NFL season has gotten off to a rough start in primetime, with Thursday Night Football ratings the latest to drop.
The Week 2 Ravens-Bengals Thursday Night Football game had a 4.2 rating and 7.02 million viewers on NFL Network, down 14% in ratings and 13% in viewership from last year (Texans-Bengals: 4.9, 8.08M). Compared to NFL Network’s first exclusive game in 2016, Dolphins-Bengals in Week 4, ratings fell 13% (from 4.8) and viewership 11% (from 7.90M).
Not including over-the-air simulcasts, the Bengals’ win was NFL Network’s least-watched season opener since 2014 — when the network did not make its season-debut until Week 8 (Saints-Panthers: 6.88M)
All five primetime NFL games this season have declined from last year. The two Thursday night games have posted the steepest declines, with the previous week’s Falcons-Eagles NFL Kickoff also down double-digits. By contrast, all three afternoon windows have increased.
In the key young demographics, Thursday’s ratings declined 15% in adults 18-49 (from 3.1 to 2.6), 16% in adults 18-34 (from 2.4 to 2.05) and 17% in adults 25-54 (from 3.5 to 2.9).
According to Sports Business Journal writer John Ourand, viewership on The Weather Channel Thursday night was up 64 percent from last year due to the landfalling Hurricane Florence.
BOYCOTT THE NFL!!!
College football is enough for our family. We are now NEVER-NFL’ers!
Take a knee, Take a hike!
Wow. I remember hearing years ago, that the Redskins had tens of thousands of people on a waiting list for season tickets.
Well, times have changed.
When I was a football fan, I was not all the interested in Monday Night or Thursday Night Football if “my team” was not involved. When I was younger I would watch those games, but gradually lost interest.
I believe these low ratings speak loud and clear about the midterms.
The NFL is like one of my girlfriends long ago....I thought I’d miss them *much* more than I actually did.
I love seeing that.
Oh no big deal. The bended knee isn’t hurting them.
LMAO
Last year had ratings lower than the year before. Now this year is lower than last year.
I suspect they’re 20-25% off over the two years.
If I were an owner, I’d be rethinking my position right now.
Ratings down 15-17% just against last year is terrible. If it was down last year by 10%, we can translate that out to a 25-27% drop over two years.
What’s more, we’re not talking about only older folks. There’s a big dent in the 18- group also.
The NFL is grinding up it’s seed corn.
You lose the youth, and you’ve got nobody watching in five to ten years.
Can’t wait until next year when they again address only a 10% drop over last year, as if that isn’t so bad.
At that point they will have lost at least one third of their viewers.
Look at your photo there. That would scare the hell out of my if I had a franchise.
More men watch sports than women. More men are conservative than women. NFL owners don’t know their own customers.
College football is enough for our family. We are now NEVER-NFL’ers!
—
Likewise. I don’t want or need the NFL. I hope they go broke.
I just check scores and read the stories.
I will say, Ryan Fitzpatrick is the feel-good story of the NFL season so far. You should check him out in his post-game press conference.
The NFL is dead to me. If they cannot require respect be given to the anthem and the country, they obviously don’t care if patriots watch their games, buy their stuff and/or buy their advertisers stuff.
Is part of it that’s the NFL is over exposed?
After all, we have games all day Sunday, Monday nights, Thursday nights.
And for those following college gsmes, there are games all day Saturday.
We all have lives to lead, and how much football can most football fans incorporate into their daily life schedule?
They did, but Dan Snyder (GM) ran fan loyalty to the ground. Here's a few antics he's done over the last 20+ years:
1) Started charging fans to attend train camp scrimmages
2) Made Season ticket holders get a Redskin MasterCard to Buy Season tickets
3)Set up pedestrian barriers preventing fans from parking across from stadium and crossing street ($50+ parking fees at stadium)
4) Charges $50+ to park 1/4 mile from stadium in a muddy lot (not even paved)
5)I'm sure others could remind me of more ...
Even college is over-exposed. Games practically every day of the week, and too many neutral site games. The Ohio State-TCU game should have been played at Amon Carter instead of JerryWorld.
Yeah...Fitzy had enough brains to not get himself killed in Buffalo.
North Texas is my favorite local football team. They destroyed Arkansas over the weekend.
Heard about this earlier today. Took Winston’s spot, and he’s lighting it up. Can’t stand Winston.
How about that kid in KC?
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