RiverDog wrote:TV ratings for the NFL were in full retreat this season, posting a nearly 10% decline in 2017, continuing a trend that started in 2015.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2196 ... lar-season
However, within the same article, there is some evidence that the decline may not be as big as you would think:
Despite the drop in NFL ratings, Nielsen data shows that the 20 of the 30 highest-rated shows on television in 2017 were football games. Both NBC and ESPN had the most-watched shows every single week, in terms of audience and in all key male demographics, for Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football games this season.
Last year, many were attributing the ratings drop to the US POTUS election, but obviously that wasn't a factor this season. But wait! The POTUS called for a boycott of the NFL in response to the anthem protests, so maybe politics did influence this year's ratings decline.
My take is that although the NFL isn't in deep trouble yet, they are losing ground to some of the other sporting enterprises, like MLB and the NBA. They are already telling people not to be shocked if this year's SB ratings doesn't break records.
Largent80 wrote:I don't watch any other than Seahawk games, except very ocasiaonally. And this is from a person that used to watch as many as possible.
Why do I want to watch a festival of yellow flags and endless timeouts for replays that they get wrong? Think about that, they have video proof yet still get it wrong and they expect fans to be ok with it.?
Plus, they can't even define what a caught pass is anymore. Dude catches the ball...Is it a catch or not?.....Seems simple to ask but, a "football move" is now required. What in the?
It's not a product worth watching outside of your teams interest and yet they wonder why?
Guess what dillwads, I cancelled the extortionist DirecTV and their monopoly of Sunday Ticket because I am out of Seattle, but guess what, I will still get every Seahawk game for less than $50 for the season now that I have cut your cord.
We could have the Leftist Football Conference and the Alt-Reich Football Conference. That would surely up the ratings
NorthHawk wrote:I hadn't thought about the California teams.
With what they did to St. Louis (even though I hate the Rams), I hope Kroenke takes a bath on this move. It would be a little bit of justice from where I sit.
Edit:
And I think it's turned some fans off and a lot of them from those 3 cities although SD dithered about a new stadium, and Oakland didn't seem to care either until it was too late.
RiverDog wrote:The problem with using the varying viewing platforms as the root cause is that MLB and the NBA, relative to the NFL, are doing much better, and they operate in the same environment as does the NFL. The only point I saw raised that was not common with other leagues was CBpb's noting that NFL Red Zone is not included in the ratings. That's an aspect that is not present in the NBA or MLB.
I do think that politics has had an effect in the decline, but it's not the only reason. The California teams (Raiders, Niners, Rams, and Chargers) are dragging much of the league down the drain.
Aseahawkfan wrote:Is NBA or Baseball even close to the NFL in ratings? Both have so many games, it's hard to imagine any games but the playoffs crack top weekly ratings. I think the internet wouldn't affect them as much given the sheer number of games will always keep them low. Not to mention, do they have the same online options as football?
NorthHawk wrote:Interesting comment about the big names not making the playoffs. Actually they didn't play very well all year and many fans are bandwagoners with in my experience the Cowboys fans being the worst. I've come across a lot of people in my life who don't watch if their team is playing bad but are insufferable when the do well. That crosses all sports, but with only 16 games in the season it might have a larger impact than other sports that play 5 to 10 times more regular season games.
RiverDog wrote:How close MLB and the NBA are to the NFL in terms of the most watched programming wasn't the point. The point was that the NFL is experiencing a decline in ratings while the NBA and MLB are experiencing increases. It's a trend that started 3 years ago.
Part of the problem this season is that as whole, the traditional franchises didn't do so well, ie Cowboys, Raiders, Redskins, Giants, Bears, Packers, and Niners didn't make the playoffs. They were replaced by a number of small market teams that don't have nation wide fan bases, ie Minnesota, Jacksonville, Tennessee, Buffalo, and New Orleans. And of course, no one in LA gives a rusty puck about the Rams.
The other problem that we haven't talked about is that MLB and the NBA draw more of their players, and hence more of their fans, from foreign countries than does the NFL. Baseball and basketball is played virtually everywhere whereas football is almost exclusively an American/Canadian affair.
Aseahawkfan wrote:Irrelevant. NFL is the top dog. Upswing may just be standard ratings movement. MLB took a hit with the steroid scandal. They may be continuing their recovery.
Are people in foreign countries a noticeable market for the NBA? How much revenue from foreign markets? That's obviously the only place our sports have to grow, but it doesn't seem like they will challenge soccer any time soon, any of them.
RiverDog wrote:A nearly 10% drop in ratings that was preceded by an 8% drop in the previous year is irrelevant? I'm pretty sure that the execs at the NFL aren't thinking that way. Whatever the cause, whether it be politics, health concerns, changing viewing platforms, the struggles of franchises in big markets, or whatever, when you have a trend that has gotten steadily worse in each of the last 3 years, it's anything but irrelevant.
The point of the thread isn't so much about markets and profitability, at least as it relates to overseas. It's about fans and popularity as reflected by TV ratings. Obviously neither league is getting much revenue from overseas as their television contracts are all US based.
The ratings slide has to concern the NFL. They can't ignore or rationalize it.
Aseahawkfan wrote:I'm sure it's not irrelevant to the owners. The ratings of the NBA or MLB are irrelevant because the NFL is still way ahead. They're still making a ton of money. The cap is still rising. How much did the ratings drop affect the bottom line? Doesn't appear it affected it much.
Depends. If it is cyclical, then they can wait it out. If it is a continuing trend that affects the bottom line, then they must be concerned. When Ford experiences a huge downturn in sales or any other cyclical business such as certain types of movies or trends, then you wait until the next upswing. Not much you can do to reverse it, so you wait for the cycle to uptick, adjust your pricing model, and monitor.
Sometimes there isn't much you can do to reverse a business trend in something like entertainment because your product is saturated and has nowhere to grow. I even find myself burning out on watching football. The younger generation doesn't seem as interested. I see so many of them watching video game competitions over football. I wouldn't be surprised to see football die off not because of concussions or politics, but waning interest by the younger generation more interested in electronic entertainment and raised in a less physically active culture. Some far away point in the future may have football competitions between two video game players that attract more viewers.
RiverDog wrote:I disagree. There are ways to reverse business trends. The successful companies are the ones that detect trends early and get ahead of the game. A good example is Amazon. They anticipated the demand for for online shopping and invested heavily in it. Standing pat or simply waiting out trends isn't a good business model, which is a big reason why former retail giants like Sears and KMart are going out of business.
My dad always claimed that boxing killed the goose that laid the golden egg by over saturating the market with their TV broadcasts. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of paralells between the demise of boxing and what we could be seeing as the start of a demise with football.
Bottom line is that although I feel that we're decades away from football taking a back seat to any other sport in this country, I do think that it's peaked.
Aseahawkfan wrote:Are people in foreign countries a noticeable market for the NBA? How much revenue from foreign markets? That's obviously the only place our sports have to grow, but it doesn't seem like they will challenge soccer any time soon, any of them.
Seahawks4Ever wrote:The WORST thing about SEARS is that they were well positioned to BE Amazon yet in some of the most myopic business decisions EVER they closed their outlet and warehouse stores and to top it off they stopped the famous Sears Catalogue and basically gave away that HUGE customer mailing list. All Sears had to do was computerize and take advantage of all of the new technology, but nope, they didn't do it. Not every brick and mortar store chain had the advantages that Sears once had but Penny's also had an extensive customer mailing list that they too gave up but I don't believe they were as well positioned as Sears.
Look at Sam's Clubs, a whole bunch of them either just closed or are slated for closing. That surprised me. I am wondering about Costco if they will soon start closing stores too. I had always believed that Costco and Sam's Club and other warehouse stores were in good position to transform themselves and use their warehouses much like Amazon uses theirs and become more of an online shipping company. I guess I was wrong. Good thing I am NOT a money manager LOL. Costco stock has been a good investment over the years, I do hope that continues.
RiverDog wrote:
I had a friend that used to own a Sears catalog store, and you're exactly right: They made some bad strategic decisions back in the early 80's just as computers were making forays into the business community.
The problem with the businesses that are at the top is that they tend to rest on their laurels. That's what killed Detroit, killed IBM, killed KMart. Costco is one of the kings of retail now, but indications are that the millennials are more apt to buy even groceries and fresh fruit and vegetables online, so 20 years from now, Costco could be in the same predicament as Sears is today.
RiverDog wrote:
Costco is one of the kings of retail now, but indications are that the millennials are more apt to buy even groceries and fresh fruit and vegetables online, so 20 years from now, Costco could be in the same predicament as Sears is today.
mykc14 wrote:Costco is getting with the trend. You can get your Costco delivered to your door via Google Express.
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