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Title: Ouch! NFL TV ratings drop again as angry fans exercise their own rights
Source:
HotAir
URL Source: https://hotair.com/archives/2017/10 ... rop-more-over-player-protests/
Published: Oct 4, 2017
Author: Andrew Malcolm
Post Date: 2017-10-04 16:03:52 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 2024
Comments: 23
Pretty soon, it could be NFL team owners on their knees begging TV viewers to come back. Once again in Week 4 of the 2017 season, as players continued their sitting-kneeling protests against something, former fans silently exercised their right of free speech using TV remotes. Despite the always insightful, candid commentary of Jon Gruden, this week’s Monday Night game on ESPN lost audience again. It was actually a pretty good game, by all accounts. After the 29-20 win, Kansas City remained the only unbeaten team at 4-0, while Washington fell to 2-2. This game though drew 13% fewer viewers than last week. And the drop was worse — 16% — in the key demo that ad buyers covet. The game drew 11.9 million viewers, down almost two million from last week. Perhaps even more disturbing for the 32 billionaire team owners, another sponsor pulled its ads over the protest controversy. Said Steve Kalafer, a mega-car-dealer and baseball team owner in New Jersey: Kalafer said a decision on his 2018 substantial ad buy remained undecided now pending NFL action. He explained his problem is with the league and owners who failed to give direction to players on how best to exercise their free speech rights while also showing respect to the flag and National Anthem. “Owners buried their heads in the sand,” Kalafer added. The Wall Street Journal reported that despite an appearance of league unity, team owners clashed in a recent meeting over the league’s combative response to White House criticisms. “We made our point,” said league spokesman Joe Lockhart, who used to be Bill Clinton’s spokesman. “There was no point in responding to every tweet or every statement.” Reaction against protests by the multi-millionaire players has been emotional and nationwide with President Trump weighing in. We wrote here Monday about a Georgia high school football team that had its own surprising patriotic response to the pro protests. The next opportunity for angry fans to not view a televised NFL game comes Thursday evening when the Patriots visit the Buccaneers. As a disappointed and likely apocryphal Hollywood producer once said about a box-office flop, “If people don’t want to come, you can’t stop them.” Poster Comment: Another big regional sponsor gone & Budweiser wavering. The National Football League and its owners have shown their fans and marketing partners that they do not have a comprehensive policy to ensure that players stand and show respect for America and our flag during the playing of the national anthem. We have cancelled all of our NFL advertising (for 2017)…As the NFL parses the important nationwide issues of ‘social justice’ and ‘freedom of speech,’ it is clear that a firm direction by them is not forthcoming.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 11.
#1. To: Tooconservative (#0)
Woo Hoo! Crater it! Burn it all down!
Nothing so dramatic, I'm afraid. We're seeing a slow steady hemorrhaging. A lot of people who had been watching out of habit and because that is what people talk about are reconsidering spending 4 hours at a time watching games without a lot of action. Saturday, Sunday afternoon, Monday night, Thursday night, it's way overdone. I do think at some point this winter, people get bored with themselves and they start quietly tuning back in. And I think the NFL is counting on that happening. If they just keep dangling that cheese, the mice will return to the maze. They are probably right. OTOH, if they lose Budweiser as sponsor, that could hit their revenues hard enough to make difference. And the networks would start looking for more profitable programming to displace the Thursday night games and maybe one or more of the weekend slots.
Go Bud, go! Trample the NFL under those Clydesdale hooves!
I still think the big threat is the reverse-bandwagon. Just as pols or companies or event organizers or merchants try to create a bandwagon effect to convince people to take part, to be part of the popular crowd or just not wanting to feel left out of The Next Big Thing and we call this a bandwagon effect, there can be such a thing as a reverse-bandwagon, where something like the NFL that has benefited from a bandwagon effect for many years and then starts to lose some of those loyal viewers/fans. At a certain point with people drifting away, the social capital of the NFL diminishes until that trickle of defecting fans turns into a flood. We aren't there yet. But the trend is very dismal for the NFL. Even if they pull out of their nosedive, they face reduced revenues and other problems.
http://nbc4i.com/2017/10/04/nfl-ratings-down-on-weekend-of-boycott/ NBC4i.com [excerpt] The Nielsen company said Tuesday the weekend’s nationally televised games averaged 13.8 million viewers, down from 14.8 million the week before. Opening week registered 16.3 million viewers and the second week had 15.8 million. = = = = = = = = = = Week 01. 16.3 million ±0.0m, % change (cumulative fm Week 1) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Only a what if, but if the current trend continued.... projected continuing trend to lose 1m per week Week 05. 12.8 million - 1.0m, minus 21.5% - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The decline in viewers week by week, using Week 1 as the baseline, indicates a 15.3% cumulative decline since Week 1. A half million viewers were lost on Week 2, a million more on week 3, and yet another million on week 4, for a total of 2.5 million viewers lost in three weeks, and with a downward trendline. They can't lose a million per week forever, but they have incurred significant loss, and network tv series are just starting back up, along with NHL ice hockey and NBA basketball. Next week, bye weeks kick in and there are two less NFL games. Also, early season ratings indicate the two highest rated series on tv are The Big Bang Theory and spinoff Young Sheldon. They had a viewership of 17.2m and 17.7 million. Both move to Thursday night. TNF is going to have some competition.
That alone is pretty disturbing. BBT got tired and formulaic after 3-4 years. Still, no doubt it is popular, here and overseas. You have to consider the NFL hardcores. At what point do they desert the NFL? Is is when the playas decide to burn a flag while the anthem is playing? You'd probably not faze something like 5-10M hardcore NFL fans with that. Trying to think like the NFL owners and the networks, they have to be considering what is their base hardcore audience. They must think it is at least 12M. Still a major audience but much diminished from the height of its power. Even so, their current business model, profits from broadcast, merchandise, endorsements, NFL sponsors, tickets have to look rather different now from what they were a year or two back.
I don't watch either one. I find laugh tracks irritating. But by deliberately moving two series with 17m viewers each straight up against NFL football, CBS is throwing down against the NFL. Thursday Night Football is an NFL weak link. It will be interesting to see what happens. There are no doubt millions of them. Also to be considered are hard core flag wavers. There are millions of them too. A big, big problem is that diminished revenue is not offset by comparable diminished expenses. Very costly contracts do not diminish automatically in response.
They will. If NFL revenues stay down, some of these playas simply won't get as good a contract renewal. They might even join Kaepernick as unemployable but with a similar unemployment insurance deal like he has for $12M even if he doesn't play at all. Kaep's deal isn't all that bad. But it is probably for only one year. Those had to be some very very high premiums he paid.
#13. To: Tooconservative (#11)
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#2. To: Vicomte13 (#1)
Woo Hoo! Crater it! Burn it all down!
#3. To: Tooconservative (#2)
OTOH, if they lose Budweiser as sponsor, that could hit their revenues hard enough to make difference.
#4. To: Vicomte13 (#3)
#5. To: Tooconservative, Vicomte13 (#4)
We aren't there yet. But the trend is very dismal for the NFL.
NFL ratings down on weekend of boycott
By Associated Press
Published: October 4, 2017, 6:25 am
Week 02. 15.8 million -0.5m, minus 3.0%
Week 03. 14.8 million -1.0m, minus 9.2%
Week 04. 13.8 million -1.0m, minus 15.3%
Week 06. 11.8 million - 1.0m, minus 27.6%
#6. To: nolu chan (#5)
(Edited)
Also, early season ratings indicate the two highest rated series on tv are The Big Bang Theory and spinoff Young Sheldon.
#10. To: Tooconservative (#6)
BBT got tired and formulaic after 3-4 years. Still, no doubt it is popular, here and overseas.
You have to consider the NFL hardcores.
Trying to think like the NFL owners and the networks, they have to be considering what is their base hardcore audience. They must think it is at least 12M. Still a major audience but much diminished from the height of its power.
#11. To: nolu chan (#10)
A big, big problem is that diminished revenue is not offset by comparable diminished expenses. Very costly contracts do not diminish automatically in response.
Replies to Comment # 11. If NFL revenues stay down, some of these playas simply won't get as good a contract renewal.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 11.
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