PFT: Cowboys have Lowest Week 1 Local Ratings in 9 Years

[Nightman]

Numbers are mainly dropping due to streams and other means. Tons of people are cutting the cord, its more of the way of the future than the past.

Not true at all

 

[ClintDagger]

Its funny for those that do not take into account pirated streams that do not get any ratings to them and are HUGE.

I also find it funny how so many claim it is all down and the NFL peaked years ago but can never explain how pretty much anytime a contract comes up for a network to cover the NFL games...they pay HIGHER and HIGHER fees every time.

Not only that the Salary Cap keeps going up and up.

It's amazing that the fees to liscence the NFL games and the Salary cap keeps going up year after year after year when people have been saying for years the NFL is past it's peak, losing money, losing fans and so on.

If the NFL truly was in as bad as shape as some want to indicate. They would be selling the rights to broadcast it for much cheaper and the salary cap would stay the same or go down.

The NFL owners and organization is not going to continue growing the salary cap if they are losing money hand over fist like some indicate.

When I see those fees for the networks going down or not go up at all, when I see the salary cap go down or not up at all...then you will have my attention and I will believe the nfl is in some kind of trouble financially.

Otherwise it is all just lip service.

I don’t think anyone thinks the NFL is in trouble financially. Hell the real threat to them is probably the concussion stuff. But the NFL has been in perpetual empire mode. Constantly looking for ways to grow the game. And now it’s going the other way due to several miscalculations the league has made. I think that’s noteworthy and an interesting topic of discussion.

To me the reason why illegal streaming isn’t brought up a lot is because the fan that seems to be walking away from NFL (at least in the stories I’ve read) is the older fan. I think I saw that the number of fans 36 and older that have left the NFL is 3x that of those 18-35. And so it’s just common sense that the older gens are probably not illegally streaming games, at least by and large. They’ve just left and moved on to something else.

I do think the streaming aspect explains some of the so-called “millennial” gap but I don’t think it explains all of it.

 

[John813]

My alarm goes off for work at 5:30am...I’m lucky if I make it 1/2 time most of the time

Yup. I don't bother with any TNF/SNF/MNF unless the Cowboys are playing. Dolphins I'll watch till halftime or whenever it's obvious they are going to lose lol.

EST + night games are not fun when I leave the house at 6am for work.

 

[yimyammer]

I know a lot of people who have tuned out because of Jerry and his demands..people are fed up.

wish they'd spread like wildfire

 

[Diehardblues]

This is a misleading report . The Cowboys opening game was down because we’re comparing a Sunday afternoon game to Sunday night which always has a higher viewership.

The Cowboys in the afternoon Fox slot was actually up for that time slot from last year.

Here’s the breakdown with link..
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/nfl-2018-opening-weekend-ratings-232740738.html

 

[MarcusRock]

Why is adding Streams to the TV numbers bogus?.

Because it doesn't feed the much-hoped-for narrative of DOOM! for the NFL.

 

[MarcusRock]

Its funny for those that do not take into account pirated streams that do not get any ratings to them and are HUGE.

I also find it funny how so many claim it is all down and the NFL peaked years ago but can never explain how pretty much anytime a contract comes up for a network to cover the NFL games...they pay HIGHER and HIGHER fees every time.

Not only that the Salary Cap keeps going up and up.

It's amazing that the fees to liscence the NFL games and the Salary cap keeps going up year after year after year when people have been saying for years the NFL is past it's peak, losing money, losing fans and so on.

If the NFL truly was in as bad as shape as some want to indicate. They would be selling the rights to broadcast it for much cheaper and the salary cap would stay the same or go down.

The NFL owners and organization is not going to continue growing the salary cap if they are losing money hand over fist like some indicate.

When I see those fees for the networks going down or not go up at all, when I see the salary cap go down or not up at all...then you will have my attention and I will believe the nfl is in some kind of trouble financially.

Otherwise it is all just lip service.

Exactly. This is where it's at which is why I pointed out that the richest contracts were the ones that increased their ratings slots with CBS up 28% on theirs. "Slumping" Thursday Night Football saw a significant increase in the price paid for those games and I expect the same for Fox and CBS Sunday games. There'll be additional excuses then.

The only thing I'd change in your post is "lip service" to "drama queening."

 

[Nightman]

Exactly. This is where it's at which is why I pointed out that the richest contracts were the ones that increased their ratings slots with CBS up 28% on theirs. "Slumping" Thursday Night Football saw a significant increase in the price paid for those games and I expect the same for Fox and CBS Sunday games. There'll be additional excuses then.

The only thing I'd change in your post is "lip service" to "drama queening."

They gave record refunds and ad re-runs last year because the numbers were so bad

It was the first year they sold less ads then the year before

No one is crying DOOM...... just saying they have peaked and are heading down

To say otherwise is just being a Fan Boy for no reason.... the NFL can be #1 and falling at the same time

 

[ClintDagger]

This is a misleading report . The Cowboys opening game was down because we’re comparing a Sunday afternoon game to Sunday night which always has a higher viewership.

The Cowboys in the afternoon Fox slot was actually up for that time slot from last year.

Here’s the breakdown with link..
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/nfl-2018-opening-weekend-ratings-232740738.html

It said lowest in 9 years though. Some of those were Fox 3:25pm games. Off the top of my head that SF opener was an afternoon game.

The late week 1 Fox game was last year was Sea at GB. Dallas is the highest drawing team in the league. GB I think is 2 or 3, but the gap between Dallas and the next team is fairly significant. So while a 2% increase is better than a drop, the league would probably hope for more with Dallas in that slot against another team that draws well.

 

[jterrell]

They gave record refunds and ad re-runs last year because the numbers were so bad

It was the first year they sold less ads then the year before

No one is crying DOOM...... just saying they have peaked and are heading down

To say otherwise is just being a Fan Boy for no reason.... the NFL can be #1 and falling at the same time

and yet here you are posting like your life depends upon it... strange huh?

 

[JW82]

Good. This is all that matters to JJ. By half time, I was flipping back and forth to other shows so I didn't throw up.

 

[jterrell]

The top 5 viewed programs of the week were ALL NFL games.
Which is why the rest of this stuff is just nonsense tbh.

Dallas/CAR was number 1 and significantly higher than the season opener featuring two good teams in Philly/ATL.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/expe...over-week-1-2017-nbc-dip-slightly/1255408002/

https://www.thewrap.com/nfl-2018-opening-weekend-ratings-mixed-bag-tv-networks/

CBS said it averaged 17.1 million viewers for its regional coverage on Sunday, its best opening week singleheader performance since 1998.

The NFL games that were down were the evening games which split the coasts and also featured some blow outs.
NFL being greedy and aiming for multiple night games is not a good look for ratings but it does get more product on the air and more TOTAL eyeballs.

The narrative the NFL is hurting over viewership is totally erroneous in every sense.
That's why the salary cap keeps increasing.

 

[yimyammer]

....and I do believe the ratings will continue to go down the crapper as more tire of the clapper.

and no matter how many years a new story is told, these same damn results are getting mighty old

 

[jterrell]

I don’t think anyone thinks the NFL is in trouble financially. Hell the real threat to them is probably the concussion stuff. But the NFL has been in perpetual empire mode. Constantly looking for ways to grow the game. And now it’s going the other way due to several miscalculations the league has made. I think that’s noteworthy and an interesting topic of discussion.

To me the reason why illegal streaming isn’t brought up a lot is because the fan that seems to be walking away from NFL (at least in the stories I’ve read) is the older fan. I think I saw that the number of fans 36 and older that have left the NFL is 3x that of those 18-35. And so it’s just common sense that the older gens are probably not illegally streaming games, at least by and large. They’ve just left and moved on to something else.

I do think the streaming aspect explains some of the so-called “millennial” gap but I don’t think it explains all of it.

Not really. There is plenty of data to compare NFL games to ALL other content.
NFL has fallen LESS than the combined other content.

This is fairly easy to track.

It is also often ignored that the NFL has ADDED Games. By flooding your TV with additional games in more time slots of course individual slots go down in rating. The highest rated games are still traditional Noon and 3 CST games. Fans settle in for a day of NFL. They watch those 2 games.
Sunday night is far more heated as HBO/Showtime and various other providers have quality Sunday night programming.
Monday and Thursday have been stretched super thin on work/school nights.

But total eyeballs viewing the games has actually INCREASED.
Thus the money has increased.

 

[jterrell]

Good. This is all that matters to JJ. By half time, I was flipping back and forth to other shows so I didn't throw up.

JJ makes zero decisions at this point, beyond whether or not to invite Dez to see Beyonce/Jay Z.

All that said Dallas was the highest rated game of the week and the highest national opening game in their slot (shown to insane 80% of national audience) since 2014 even though that was about as gross a display of football as you can find.

 

[Nightman]

and yet here you are posting like your life depends upon it... strange huh?

I like proving guys wrong and then watching them run and hide after being called on their bs

 

[Nightman]

and yet here you are posting like your life depends upon it... strange huh?

I was waiting for an apology for you calling me a liar and being proven correct but I guess you got a weeks vacation instead

Funny how the 1st thing you do is come right back at me

 

[JW82]

JJ makes zero decisions at this point, beyond whether or not to invite Dez to see Beyonce/Jay Z.

All that said Dallas was the highest rated game of the week and the highest national opening game in their slot (shown to insane 80% of national audience) since 2014 even though that was about as gross a display of football as you can find.

Garrett is there because of Jerry's inability to admit a mistake. No one else.

 

[Blake]

Modern NFL sucks. I watch full game broadcasts from the golden era (70s - early 00s) on youtube, to relive football the way it used to be.

 

[kevm3]

The cowboys are an embarrassment and a joke. It's sad when other fans can talk trash and there's literally nothing you can say because your team is a notch above the Cleveland Browns. Viewership needs to keep going down so that maybe, just maybe, we can get an FO with an actual GM and an actual coach that is accountable.