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NFL ratings decline

Other than Panthers games I watch RedZone due to the slowdowns, commercials, etc. It's hard to watch a TNF, SNF or MNF game my team isn't involved in.
 
You have a handful of folks on the right boycotting the NFL and a smaller handful on the left (b/c Kaep doesn't have a job). But to me, I thought the overall quality of the game was down, especially after Rodgers, Wentz and Watson exited for the year. The AFC only had 3 teams that were playoff quality, and 1 of those 3 had the worst playoff winning QB since Dilfer. And if it weren't for the NFCS, the rest of the NFC only had 3 quality teams. Then you throw in the Patriots fatigue, which encompasses 90% of the country, and more people cutting the cord, and you have the least satisfying year I can remember. But if 3-4 of the rookie QBs turn out to be legit, with the other young guys coming back healthy, we could be in for a much better year next year with only a handful of teams not having a legit QB.
 
If the Panthers aren't playing I have a real hard time sitting through a whole game.
 
There's also saturation. One of the NFL's biggest selling points was its scarcity. Being on at least three days a week waters down participation. There isn't a limitless pool of people willing to spend 3+ hours watching football.

When you add cutting the chord, families turning from football and other options to the saturation problem, viewership and ad revenues will continue to drop.
 
manning said:
do they really think traffic to the team website is some kind of indicator? I mean could we cherry pick something that doesn't even matter to ratings to talk about during an article based on nfl ratings.

http://chiefswire.usatoday.com/2017/11/10/chiefs-lead-nfl-in-local-tv-ratings-growth/
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they were just using it as a proxy for which teams are the most popular, and pointing out that many of the most popular teams are not good this year. makes sense to me. you could use some other popularity proxy like merch sales I guess but that data might be harder to get. No matter how you measure it, there's no question in my mind that the Packers, Cowboys, and Giants are some of the most popular teams in the country and they all sucked this year. i thought it was interesting that the Panthers were in the top 10 and the Falcons in the bottom quarter.

ETA: the article you posted kind of makes the same point - KC is the least popular team nationally, they were good which got them a 16 percent rise in local TV ratings, but nationwide nobody outside Kansas is tuning in to watch them.
 
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Deacon923 said:
i think this is mostly true. however there has been a substantial ratings decline and I think the article explains it better than Colin Kaepernick kneeling.
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The article completely whiffs on the biggest reason, in my opinion. NFL ratings peaked when fantasy football peaked, as it forces people to watch games that they otherwise wouldn't care about. The biggest fantasy football crowd, Gen Xers, have now been playing it online (which was a drastic ease/accessibility change from the pre-internet rotostyle formats) for over 20 years and are getting burned out on it. The younger generations like it, but are not as rabid because they came of age with so many other similar options so don't necessarily have the same ties to it as Gen Xers do. Plus, fantasy football is now harder to keep up with because of the damn Thursday games (first partial season and now full season), so the casual participants are now even less motivated to play (the once or twice a week check in was what made it so attractive as compared to fantasy baseball or basketball). I used to have 5 or 6 teams going all season, now I get somewhat pissed about having to manage 1 or 2. And if I don't care about my fantasy team, I have minimal reason to watch anything other than the team(s) I really care about.
 
^ agreed

I care less and less about fantasy. I think this is my last year playing. Its just so random and dumb.
 
the problem with fantasy football is that it divorces the fan from the game and the culture of the team and focuses it on a meta game.
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
The article completely whiffs on the biggest reason, in my opinion. NFL ratings peaked when fantasy football peaked, as it forces people to watch games that they otherwise wouldn't care about. The biggest fantasy football crowd, Gen Xers, have now been playing it online (which was a drastic ease/accessibility change from the pre-internet rotostyle formats) for over 20 years and are getting burned out on it. The younger generations like it, but are not as rabid because they came of age with so many other similar options so don't necessarily have the same ties to it as Gen Xers do. Plus, fantasy football is now harder to keep up with because of the damn Thursday games (first partial season and now full season), so the casual participants are now even less motivated to play (the once or twice a week check in was what made it so attractive as compared to fantasy baseball or basketball). I used to have 5 or 6 teams going all season, now I get somewhat pissed about having to manage 1 or 2. And if I don't care about my fantasy team, I have minimal reason to watch anything other than the team(s) I really care about.
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Link to where Fantasy Football is declining in participation? Or is this just another #feelings post?
 
More #anecdotes here. I wonder if the NFL has a plan to promote the league to children.

This season I’ve hung out and watched NFL games four separate time with four friends while our sons were playing video games and doing other stuff. My sons like for the Panthers to win because it makes me happy but there is no way they could sit through a whole game.
 
^The NFL is actively promoting football to parents. I've seen a ton of those "I'm a football mom" ads. Clearly to counter the perception that kids who play football die.

Would be interesting to see a comparative analysis against college football, although that's obviously a bit harder since it's so much more spread out. I'm sure someone good at maths could pull it off.
 
You also have to consider the number of people who are still watching the games, but doing it on illegal streams. We cut our cord two years ago but have two TVs on playing games on Sunday via streams.
 
I imagine most cord cutting fans do that. Which streams?
 
PhDeac said:
I imagine most cord cutting fans do that. Which streams?
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I just use reddit and find them that way. Pretty much everything else I can stream through legit apps.
I also have NFL Sunday ticket app but it will only let you stream one game at a time and that is just not enough.
 
Do you buy the Sunday Ticket streaming package for people who can’t get DirecTV?
 
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