Ratings Down for All Four NFL Playoff Games, Chiefs-Titans Least Watched in 5 Years

Source: Breitbart
Published: Jan 9, 2018
Author: Warner Todd Huston
Post Date: 2018-01-09 10:29:08 by Tooconservative
Views: 1520

Following a regular season where most NFL fans decided they had better things to do on Sunday afternoons than watch football; it appears those same fans still have better things to do on Saturdays and Sundays in the postseason.

The first round of playoffs suffered double-digit ratings drops, as the NFL begins the most important part of its calendar year, Awful Announcing reported.

Saturday’s Tennessee Titans-Kansas City Chiefs game didn’t deliver for ESPN or ABC, losing two full ratings points over last year’s game. The game drew a 14.7 overnight rating compared to last years 16.6 for the Houston Texans-L.A. Raiders game. It was the worst rating since 2012, Awful Announcing said.

Later that evening, the Atlanta Falcons-Los Angeles Rams game did only a little better, seeing a similar if not quite as bad ratings loss.

According to SportsTVRatings, the Falcons-Rams game lost 10 percent over last year’s game.

Titans/Chiefs = 14.7, down 11% from 16.6 for last year's Texan's Raiders (h/t @JoshACarpenter )

Falcons/Rams: 14.9, down 10% from the 16.5 for Lions-Seahawks last year (h/t @NBCSportsPR )

— Sports TV Ratings (@SportsTVRatings) January 7, 2018

Sunday’s Jacksonville Jaguars-Buffalo Bills matchup earned better ratings than the Saturday games, but it was still a 21 percent loss over the 2016 season’s game, Josh Carpenter noted.

“Fox drew a 20.4 rating yesterday for Saints-Panthers, down 21% from a 25.9 last year in same window (Giants-Packers). CBS drew a 17.2 for Jags-Bills, down 10% from last year (Steelers-Dolphins),” Carpenter wrote.

These Wild Card game ratings come after a season of some of the worst ratings in NFL history. By some estimates, the 2017 regular NFL season is down nearly 10 points from 2016.

It should be noted that the 2016 season itself saw an 8 percent tumble over the numbers from 2015; with the sports media claiming it was all due to a raucous 2016 presidential election season.

But with the 2016 election long ago decided, one wonders what their excuse is for this year.

Poster Comment:

I considered the playoffs and the Superbowl to be the acid test of whether the NFL's Left could wait it out for the fans to return.

So far, the fans seem to be holding firm. This will be a disaster for the NFL and the networks if it continues on to the Superbowl.

Post Comment   Private Reply

#1: Hank Rearden    To: Tooconservative (#0)

Watching sports is boring as hell, but sometime I wished I liked it for a day or two so I could boycott it.

Hank Rearden posted on 2018-01-09 11:31:47   Reply   Private Reply

#2: Tooconservative    To: Hank Rearden (#1)

I still wait to see if the fans that stopped watching and turning out would eventually come back. That is what the NFL hoped, that they'd eventually stop being angry over the anthem being used for political protest.

So far, the holdout fans seem to be holding steady and have not gone back to their regular NFL viewing/buying habits.

This has to affect the value of all the networks carrying NFL games.

Tooconservative posted on 2018-01-09 16:53:14   Reply   Private Reply

#3: Hank Rearden    To: Tooconservative (#2)

I think that once they're off the weekend TV teat, people will come to realize there's a big wide world out there that's a lot more interesting than watching overpaid mouthbreathers play kids' games.

Hank Rearden posted on 2018-01-09 17:34:57   Reply   Private Reply

#4: Tooconservative    To: Hank Rearden (#3)

I've wondered some of the fleeing viewers are people in social circles or who have a lot of people they work with who are diehard NFL fans and they've gone along with it just to be part of the crowd even though they don't care that much about it personally.

So they can finally drop out of the NFL watercooler crowd by saying, "They've made it all political and I can't bear it!". "My Uncle Joe died on Iwo Jima and they're pissing on his grave!" "My grampa fought those Nazis and these punks are disrespecting his memory."

Anyway, it might be giving a lot of people an excuse to leave the NFL behind when they were already sick of it or tired of feeling compelled to talk football at work or socially.

To really follow the NFL and watch all the (allegedly) important games, you have to give up a lot of free time. 6, 8, 10 hours a week isn't unusual.

Tooconservative posted on 2018-01-10 03:42:59   Reply   Private Reply