All ratings were down except one

[goshan]

Rating focus equals revenue focus. The money Directv pays the NFL pales in comparison to the money advertisers pay which leads to bigger tv contracts. If they start to believe that the directv money is dragging down ratings which leads to smaller tv contracts and less revenue then they will listen.
Watch them scramble when ratings continue to drop.

Don't assume I am not as smart as the people who they pay to model this. You don't know me or my profession.

Hmm...how do explain the staggering growth rate of revenue for the NFL? Yet TV ratings of NFL on network television are down. Is total consumption of the NFL product down? People watching Red Zone are consuming the product, and the NFL is making money off that. People watching DirecTV ST are consuming the product and the NFL is making money on that.

Do you realize that network TV ratings are down 20% the past few years in general? Network TV ratings are becoming less and less meaningful in terms of evaluating the health of any content/entertainment offering with a diversified distribution strategy.

Ask yourself this. Do you still measure success of an artist/album based upon LP record sales?

 

[Deep_Freeze]

No, Aikman and Buck.

See I hate you for just saying that.

 

[superonyx]

Hmm...how do explain the staggering growth rate of revenue for the NFL? Yet TV ratings of NFL on network television are down. Is total consumption of the NFL product down? People watching Red Zone are consuming the product, and the NFL is making money off that. People watching DirecTV ST are consuming the product and the NFL is making money on that.

Do you realize that network TV ratings are down 20% the past few years in general? Network TV ratings are becoming less and less meaningful in terms of evaluating the health of any content/entertainment offering with a diversified distribution strategy.

Ask yourself this. Do you still measure success of an artist/album based upon LP record sales?

The owners are not going to look back at past growth rates when deciding which way they should move forward.
Past growth rates and past consumption do not mean the owners are going to be ok with consistently collapsing tv ratings. Maybe tv ratings are not the one and only way success is measured but its also not something that has little or no relevance. Attendance is down in the stadiums also. Sure fans watch the redzone and some get Sunday Ticket...these are the core base. The league will certainly look at falling tv ratings which equals falling fan viewership as a troubling trend. Network tv reaches a wide rangle of fans both serious and casual. Losing the casual fans will result in losing fans that become serious enough to spend their money on your form of entertainment.

 

[Redball Express]

The problem is, there is really no way to leverage it against the league. What are we going to do, boycott a game? Be less interesting? If anything, the court drama drew in more viewers

Boycotting is an option.

Once the TVs start switching to ABC Wide World of Sports for car race coverage instead of NFL double headers on Sunday..

the NFL will figure it out.

Me...

i plan on watching the Posts on Monday of the highlites. of games nstead of live coverage with commercials.

No revenue from commercials will strangle the NFL.

I will go back to listening to radio instead of watching live.

Thats my protest.

Just turn it off and say NO.

 

[Nightman]

The owners are not going to look back at past growth rates when deciding which way they should move forward.
Past growth rates and past consumption do not mean the owners are going to be ok with consistently collapsing tv ratings. Maybe tv ratings are not the one and only way success is measured but its also not something that has little or no relevance. Attendance is down in the stadiums also. Sure fans watch the redzone and some get Sunday Ticket...these are the core base. The league will certainly look at falling tv ratings which equals falling fan viewership as a troubling trend. Network tv reaches a wide rangle of fans both serious and casual. Losing the casual fans will result in losing fans that become serious enough to spend their money on your form of entertainment.

I think the NFL has already reached its tipping point

With the concussions, the violence, the commercials the NFL is cutting off more and more of its future

With the drugs, the politics, the social activism, the PC rules the NFL is cutting off their base

The NFL didn't grow overnight and won't decline overnight but it needs to change direction quickly

 

[goshan]

The owners are not going to look back at past growth rates when deciding which way they should move forward.
Past growth rates and past consumption do not mean the owners are going to be ok with consistently collapsing tv ratings. Maybe tv ratings are not the one and only way success is measured but its also not something that has little or no relevance. Attendance is down in the stadiums also. Sure fans watch the redzone and some get Sunday Ticket...these are the core base. The league will certainly look at falling tv ratings which equals falling fan viewership as a troubling trend. Network tv reaches a wide rangle of fans both serious and casual. Losing the casual fans will result in losing fans that become serious enough to spend their money on your form of entertainment.

I do agree network TV ratings are part of the evaluation of league health, but by themselves, they simply can not be used to argue that the league is in decline. The most meaningful network viewership rating is the prime time network games (Sunday Night, Monday night), where consumers don't have any other legal way to watch except for Network TV. But again, all the top programs on primetime network TV are declining in ratings, so it would be amazing, and against macro trend, for the NFL to maintain or grow prime-time ratings when people's lives continue to fragment across channels and different means of entertainment.

The most relevant 'viewership' metric for comparison sake would be how many consumers are watching the NFL's product across all channels (networks, DTV, redzone, illegal streams) compared to prior years. I am confident the NFL has an estimate on what that number is. I don't know if it is up or down, but that would be the way to determine if we have a big issue or not.

 

[superonyx]

I do agree network TV ratings are part of the evaluation of league health, but by themselves, they simply can not be used to argue that the league is in decline. The most meaningful network viewership rating is the prime time network games (Sunday Night, Monday night), where consumers don't have any other legal way to watch except for Network TV. But again, all the top programs on primetime network TV are declining in ratings, so it would be amazing, and against macro trend, for the NFL to maintain or grow prime-time ratings when people's lives continue to fragment across channels and different means of entertainment.

The most relevant 'viewership' metric for comparison sake would be how many consumers are watching the NFL's product across all channels (networks, DTV, redzone, illegal streams) compared to prior years. I am confident the NFL has an estimate on what that number is. I don't know if it is up or down, but that would be the way to determine if we have a big issue or not.

We agree on most points. I just think it's healthy for the league long term in the face of possible declining interest to force people to jump through hoops and illegally stream games to watch their favorite team. The directv package forces people to be fanatics or possibly lose interest...when your business model makes it hard for your potential customers to spend their money on your product then you are doing it wrong.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I do agree network TV ratings are part of the evaluation of league health, but by themselves, they simply can not be used to argue that the league is in decline. The most meaningful network viewership rating is the prime time network games (Sunday Night, Monday night), where consumers don't have any other legal way to watch except for Network TV. But again, all the top programs on primetime network TV are declining in ratings, so it would be amazing, and against macro trend, for the NFL to maintain or grow prime-time ratings when people's lives continue to fragment across channels and different means of entertainment.

The most relevant 'viewership' metric for comparison sake would be how many consumers are watching the NFL's product across all channels (networks, DTV, redzone, illegal streams) compared to prior years. I am confident the NFL has an estimate on what that number is. I don't know if it is up or down, but that would be the way to determine if we have a big issue or not.

But the networks are going to look at the viewership numbers when it comes to deciding what to bid when the next TV contract comes up... And declining viewership isn't going to help get higher bids.

 

[goshan]

But the networks are going to look at the viewership numbers when it comes to deciding what to bid when the next TV contract comes up... And declining viewership isn't going to help get higher bids.

But it's all relative. Network ratings are declining for all programs, so the relevant conversations is how does the NFL rank versus other programming alternatives. I have seen no data that indicates the NFL is losing ground versus other alternatives.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

But it's all relative. Network ratings are declining for all programs, so the relevant conversations is how does the NFL rank versus other programming alternatives. I have seen no data that indicates the NFL is losing ground versus other alternatives.

But that's not advertisers see it and they're the ones footing the bill. "Oh you want to charge me the same amount as 4 years ago even though your numbers are down 20%?"

No.

 

[risco]

Dallas in prime time is the one constant for ratings no matter what. Other matchups can get big or even bigger ratings but they must have some type of intrigue associated with it or only fans of those two teams are watching. Everyone watches Dallas. You are either a Dallas fan or you want to see them lose.

This is so true!!!!!

 

[plasticman]

The bottom line is that the NFL isn't attracting a substantial amount of young viewership. The competition for discretionary time has become far more competitive with so many different media sources.

In addition, the NFL hurt itself with tje way teams are srructured and marketed. Even if rhey acquire younger viewers, they are more apt to root for a particular player, team loyalty just isn't the same any more and that hurts the league.

Fams can always just check the fantasy numbers on the phone.

It amazed me recently when I had to work in a mall during a Cowboy game (it was killinng me inside). I saw so many people walking around wearing Cowboy apparel, jerseys, jackets, caps.....during the game. Why were they there when they didn't have to be? Why were they not watching the game?

 

[Nightman]

But that's not advertisers see it and they're the ones footing the bill. "Oh you want to charge me the same amount as 4 years ago even though your numbers are down 20%?"

No.

Not even the same........they want double the fees........"the numbers don't show it but a lot of people are watching online or on pirated streams" is not a good answer

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Not even the same........they want double the fees........"the numbers don't show it but a lot of people are watching online or on pirated streams" is not a good answer

Especially when online & TIVOing doesn't show commercials. If I'm an advertiser I could care less how many people are streaming & such. How many are seeing my ads today as opposed to 4 years ago? That's what an advertiser is interested in. And if the numbers are well down...