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NFL viewership off 11% YOY (1 Viewer)

Shooting from the hip,  I would blame the drop in viewership on the artificial marketing hoops that Comcast (and others) inflict upon cord-cutters; they are the turds that clog the pipe. 

 
Problems I see:. 

- The Kaep bs

- the celebration rule is a joke

- suspensions are hurting the game

- the stars are fading or gone Manning/Brady and even Rogers is losing it.  

- fantasy football is fading 

 
The Z Machine said:
I've been saying this for a while, but there's only one way the NFL goes from here, and it ain't getting more fans.  We have seen "peak football" IMO.
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Yep.  You could tell on MNF the last 3-4 years where there were lots of empty seats in great football towns like Pittsburgh. 

 
Da Guru said:
Goodell..Goodell and Goodell...
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I think he has a lot to do with it for me anyway. With all the commercials,penalties and rule changes the fun has been sucked out. I've been watching football for 40 years and now it seems I don't know what a catch or a penalty looks like. Instead of cheering when my team scores I have to wait to make sure there is no flag and then wait for a review to see if the process was completed. There are also too many bad teams and a severe lack of qb talent and most of these teams seem to get put on Thursday or Monday night games.

 
I'd think the softening of the game hasn't helped.   People like seeing big hits and a lot of those are gone.  A lot of people like seeing the quarterback getting drilled and that is gone.  

 
A combination of many factors are involved in this.

While fantasy football is as popular as it's ever been, I suspect that a lot of people who play are casual fans at best who don't really watch games and just want to check their FF scores on Tuesday morning to see if they won or lost. 

Over-saturation.  Three prime time games a week is too much.  The Thursday night games aren't going anywhere, but they generally suck.

Too many commercials + a current society of everyone wanting everything now.  In this day and age where any and everything is a click away, many probably shut games off when there are too many commercials early on and never make it back. 

The current election cycle.  Should be interesting to see if the ratings get any better once the election is over. 

 
Ghost Rider said:
A combination of many factors are involved in this.

While fantasy football is as popular as it's ever been, I suspect that a lot of people who play are casual fans at best who don't really watch games and just want to check their FF scores on Tuesday morning to see if they won or lost. 

Over-saturation.  Three prime time games a week is too much.  The Thursday night games aren't going anywhere, but they generally suck.

Too many commercials + a current society of everyone wanting everything now.  In this day and age where any and everything is a click away, many probably shut games off when there are too many commercials early on and never make it back. 

The current election cycle.  Should be interesting to see if the ratings get any better once the election is over. 
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Some of that could cause some rating decline...  but also believe with all the streaming ways available the way ratings are scored were bound to go down... I don't think overall viewership is down as much as this article states.. just think the old rating system needs to be adjusted. :shrug:

 
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snogger said:
Some of that could cause some rating decline...  but also believe with all the streaming ways available the way ratings are scored were bound to go down... I don't think overall viewership is down as much as this article stayes.. just think the old rating system needs to be adjusted. :shrug:
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That could very well be true.  I never stream football - I always watch on TV - so I didn't give that a lot of consideration, but you might be right.  

Also, the NFL is not really a league that needs stars to attract viewers - that is more the NBA's thing - but I can't help but wonder if the first month having no Peyton Manning or Tom Brady hurt.  Having the Bears on two prime time games in a week probably didn't help either. :lol:  

 
Ghost Rider said:
That could very well be true.  I never stream football - I always watch on TV - so I didn't give that a lot of consideration, but you might be right.  

Also, the NFL is not really a league that needs stars to attract viewers - that is more the NBA's thing - but I can't help but wonder if the first month having no Peyton Manning or Tom Brady hurt.  Having the Bears on two prime time games in a week probably didn't help either. :lol:  
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Need more Broncos. 

 
Get rid of the celebration penalty.  Fans loved the Fun Bunch,  the New York Sack Exchange, the high fives,  and the dancing. These are grown men,  no one is having their feelings hurt because of an end zone dance. 

 
There's a number of issues that the NFL has.

Our attention spans are just different than they used to be.  

Lets face it, its 2016, and the NFL is putting out a terrible product when it comes to prime time viewing.

Watching a regular season game at night?  It's just boring.  The only reason most people enjoy it is their fantasy football team.  

Me personally, I've grown to love soccer.  It's amazing how much more fast paced and exciting a soccer game is than an NFL game.  

Basically, the NFL has too many commercials,stoppages, replays, and weird rules and the product is getting worse each year.  Americans would rather watch Netflix.

 
MikeIke said:
Get rid of the celebration penalty.  Fans loved the Fun Bunch,  the New York Sack Exchange, the high fives,  and the dancing. These are grown men,  no one is having their feelings hurt because of an end zone dance. 
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Few posters in that other thread who's feelings seem very hurt

 
ShamrockPride said:
So the question then becomes, what was the downfall? Where did it start to go wrong?
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Game length/commercial breaks. Legislating out anything/anyone that was interesting. Oversaturating the market so that nothing's an 'event.'

Count me in the group that has fallen in love with soccer over the last few years. The game is always moving and you know that it will be done in under two hours.

 
Bert Emanuel ruined football for me.   In my opinion no other play changed the sport more then his non catch in the NFC Championship game.  That was the day that music died.  That was the day the rules committee decided to take the game away from the officials on the field and to put in hard rules with no room for interpretation.

 
ShamrockPride said:
So the question then becomes, what was the downfall? Where did it start to go wrong?
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There are a lot of things. Largely, I think the game has been a victim of it's own success, and that doesn't mesh well with today's viewer.

I used to have Sunday Ticket. This season, I've watched one game total, in a sports bar. If the Panthers are on here, I'll watch, or there's a game I wouldn't mind seeing at a time when I'm free or feel like using it as an excuse to head to a bar, I'll watch. Otherwise, I really don't care at all to watch the NFL.

Going from ST to no ST a few years ago was a dramatic change for me. Watching one single NFL game at a time is just a miserable viewing experience. Unless it's a very compelling match-up that the viewer is invested in for some reason. And you couldn't pay me enough to drive to an NFL stadium and sit through it in person.

Combine this miserable viewing experience with all the options available and it makes sense. Watching mediocre football games all Sunday used to be a nice option with few alternatives. Now, there are a million shows on Netflix I keep meaning to plow through. If I stumble across 4 hours of free time on a Sunday, I'm more likely to do that. Viewers, more and more, just aren't used to watching commercials because they don't have to. The NFL, of course, has a few of them. 

Then there there are other sports that are a better viewing experience. For me, the NBA and MLB have far surpassed the NFL. An NBA game is loaded with action, and commercial breaks feel less frequent and intrusive. NBA is a fantastic product right now. MLB is more of a personal thing (not like the NBA which I think might be "king" in a decade). I just like baseball, and MLB.tv is a great product for a viewer.

So, I think it's mostly the commercials. It's been said for years, but now the public has access to so much more content that it'll catch up. I'm sure the violence, head injury, Goodell stuff all has an effect, but if the NFL were a fantastic viewing product, it wouldn't matter.

 
I agree with a lot of the comments in here and I think the answer is a lot of factors have made the NFL less desirable to watch.

I'll throw another one out and that is the obsession with getting a championship or following a winner.  Maybe I'm wrong but when I was a kid it didn't seem like sports were Championship or Bust - you supported your local team win or lose.  Now it seems like fans only show up or watch when their team is good.  I catch myself doing this at times.  

 
Ghost Rider said:
A combination of many factors are involved in this.

While fantasy football is as popular as it's ever been, I suspect that a lot of people who play are casual fans at best who don't really watch games and just want to check their FF scores on Tuesday morning to see if they won or lost. 

Over-saturation.  Three prime time games a week is too much.  The Thursday night games aren't going anywhere, but they generally suck.

Too many commercials + a current society of everyone wanting everything now.  In this day and age where any and everything is a click away, many probably shut games off when there are too many commercials early on and never make it back. 

The current election cycle.  Should be interesting to see if the ratings get any better once the election is over. 
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FF may not be in decline but now it is a different type of player.  The older hardcore FF players would watch from noon on Sunday until the end on Sunday and the Monday games.  The newer players are your sisters, people you work with, younger players like my daughters who don`t watch football but will check their phones for scores on Sundays while they are doing something else.

Even myself now I can not watch a full game anymore and hardly ever watch Sunday or Monday night..if the Lions are playing I will watch the second half.  Any other game maybe a quarter. The NFL addiction I had  for 25 years has been broken. I will watch all the playoff games though.

 
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The NFL made bank on selling commercial air time as the popularity was growing. They kept milking that cow more and more, and now they've watered down the product with too many commercials. This was partly due to advertisers chasing eyeballs when much of live TV watching was in decline (time shifting being the primary culprit)

Plus, the market got a) oversaturated with pro football. You couldn't go anywhere in the fall without being hit over the head with NFL promotion. And b) the media landscape has splintered with 1000x more options than a decade ago.

 
For me it's

A) Too many commercials. The flow is always disrupted. It's like if I'm getting into a movie but I have to push pause every two minutes because someone in my family starts screaming something inane at me. "DID YOU WIND UP THE GARDEN HOSE!?"

B) The self importance of the players, and to a larger extent the league itself. It started for me when AP likened his working conditions to modern day slavery. How about a little self-awareness?

C) The on-field product. These guys are unbelievably exceptional athletes but almost equally poor football players. Missed tackles (going for highlight hits instead), dropped passes, inability to block, QBs that simply cannot throw...It's awful to watch. They come into the league not knowing how to play and now they practice LESS than before. It's no wonder old school coaches like Zimmer and Arians are effectively benching first rounders for their entire first year.

 
I guess for the "normal Joe" there are too many commercials..

For me, when the main networks go to commercial, I switch over to Red Zone where there are none :bowtie:

Wonder if it is a "age" thing.. I'm 48 and still love Sunday NFL.. I watch the pre-game shows at 11am Central time and continue to watch until I go to sleep on Sunday's..
Wife and Family know that if you make plans for Sunday during the NFL season.. Have fun :bye:  

 
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tjnc09 said:
Giants.  I have no problem supporting the MLB.
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Unlike them ungrateful football and basketball millionaires, baseball millionaires appreciate the opportunity provided to them by 'Murica.

 
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Major rule changes needed imo. Open things up, let the kids play, let them wear crazy uniforms, stylish stuff, change it up every week, jersey sponsors, less defense, open it up, more scoring, less tackling, touchdowns worth 10 points + 2, field goals 5, bigger hits, more PEDs, make it louder, halftime shows, dancers, in your face, double reverse super slow-mo replays running all the time, different lines all over the screen, more info, more graphics, "analysis", more talking more noise.

 
CletiusMaximus said:
Major rule changes needed imo. Open things up, let the kids play, let them wear crazy uniforms, stylish stuff, change it up every week, jersey sponsors, less defense, open it up, more scoring, less tackling, touchdowns worth 10 points + 2, field goals 5, bigger hits, more PEDs, make it louder, halftime shows, dancers, in your face, double reverse super slow-mo replays running all the time, different lines all over the screen, more info, more graphics, "analysis", more talking more noise.
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I think pro wrestling is more your thing. :P

 
Ghost Rider said:
Over-saturation.  Three prime time games a week is too much.  The Thursday night games aren't going anywhere, but they generally suck.
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This, too. Football days used to be something special that I'd look forward to. Now, it feels like there is an NFL game on too many days, taking away the specialness of it.  That, coupled with the fact that I can't even watch many games as a cord cutter, makes me really lose interest.

 
Anyone think the culture AT the stadium has changed?  When I was younger I went with my family to games occasionally.  We always had fun.  As a kid, I don't remember a "rude" fan.  I've taken my kids to stadiums for a Hockey, Baseball and Football game and I'm appalled by the things I hear.  I don't want to drop that type of coin to subject my family to that stuff. 

 
Max Power said:
Anyone think the culture AT the stadium has changed?  When I was younger I went with my family to games occasionally.  We always had fun.  As a kid, I don't remember a "rude" fan.  I've taken my kids to stadiums for a Hockey, Baseball and Football game and I'm appalled by the things I hear.  I don't want to drop that type of coin to subject my family to that stuff. 
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Started going to Bears games in the early 80s.  It was full of drunken #######s then too.

 
Max Power said:
Anyone think the culture AT the stadium has changed?  When I was younger I went with my family to games occasionally.  We always had fun.  As a kid, I don't remember a "rude" fan.  I've taken my kids to stadiums for a Hockey, Baseball and Football game and I'm appalled by the things I hear.  I don't want to drop that type of coin to subject my family to that stuff. 
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Not sure where you live, but I remember as a teenager going to the stolen Minnesota North Stars and the language could make a grown man :blush:

But that was half the fun.. Well that and the Hockey game that broke out every once in awhile between :boxing:

 
Sconch said:
I seriously doubt that the anthem thing has caused viewership to drop 11%. 
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Honestly I haven't watched the last couple of weekends because I didn't want to hear about the anthem political stuff so I skipped kickoff and then never got back to watch the rest of the games.  First time in a while I haven't watched at all.  I don't want to hear politics in my NFL.

 
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