https://www.si.com/tech-media/2018/01/04/nfl-tv-ratings-decline-ten-percent-colin-kaepernick-thursday-night-football
- What do you believe is the main reason behind the decline in the NFL’s ratings?
- Are there any factors not mentioned in the article that might be responsible for the decrease in viewership?
- What steps can the NFL take to get viewership back to where it once was?
I think the main reason that the NFL's viewership has declined is mainly due to the increased use of NFL RedZone like it mentions in the article. The reason I think this is because I myself use RedZone to watch football and it also makes it easier for people to watch their favorite teams if they aren't on tv and also see the highlights from every game when they happen. The other factor that I think is contributing to the decreased viewership that they don't mention is how football was recently used as a form of protest. I know from personal experience that some people chose to not watch the NFL because it was becoming more politically oriented. Also there seem to be more commercials during the NFL games that might contribute to the amount of people watching RedZone as well. I'm not sure what steps the NFL could take to get viewership back because trying to stop the protests is a very touchy subject, but the inly recommendation I would have is to make football fun to watch again like they've done with the celebration rules.
ReplyDeleteI think the article is right that there is a “confluence of circumstances” taking place driving down NFL viewership. The people who I know that love football pretty much always tape the games and watch at night avoiding scores all day so they can live in the moment.
ReplyDeleteThe people I know who used to love football and who have stopped have done so because of the politics. For example, a friend’s dad is an ex-Marine and now a cop and the protests drive him nuts. (He’s also a Giants fan so it was an easy season to give up on).
The people I know who never really cared have stopped watching all together because of the violence. I know so many dads who are not going to allow their kids to play the game for fear of concussions and other injuries. One friend of my dad’s says that soon the game will only be paid by poor people willing to exchange their health for massive income while they play. I think he’s a bit extreme because, as the article showed, 37 of the top 50 ratings were football events.
In this case it seems to me that football is still massive and that people are just not watching it on regular TV. Plenty of people watch the games on the computer and cast them onto larger screens because they do not want to buy a certain package to watch their team play. I think its millennials cutting the cord. The people bothered by the violence or possible injuries are still in a terribly small minority.
So I think to get people back on board with regular TV viewership like during the actual game times there has to be a reason to be there. Maybe something interactive with the audience that is live would keep people tuned in. But I think in general TV has seen its heyday and entertainment is shifting to the web and web-based interfaces. People are cutting cords because free TV is gone and $200/mo is a lot of money that could be spent for more rewarding things because the game can be found elsewhere.
Overall, I believe one of the main reasons the NFL has had a 9.7% decline in ratings compared to last season is the widespread use of the Redzone website that is used to watch football games. As said in the article, Redzone switches between live games as well as shows scoring opportunities and highlight plays that are not featured on TV. This website makes watching your favorite teams effortless, even when they are not broadcasted live. This is affecting TV viewership because it is simply easier to watch online and helps fans catch up when they missed out on a game. Another factor that I believe has been affecting NFL ratings is how football is now often used as a political platform to protest. These protests start controversy at games and many fans would rather watch the games without these political disagreements and beliefs. People have a right to their opinion but many would rather have these athletes address them in a different way or at different time and off the game field. Overall, I am unsure what the NFL can do to rise their ratings back to the top. However, I would recommend keeping the political protests out of their games and off the field because it bares controversy between fans. The NFL should be taking an interactive approach that will get all fans and audiences involved, interested and amused when watching.
ReplyDeleteI think that the decline in viewership is related to more and more people using streaming rather than traditional cable. This transition to digital viewing has offset the amount of people watching on cable. I think that if the NFL looked more into viewership on streaming platforms then they would get the true picture of viewership losses. I think another factor not mentioned in the article is the amount of people who stream games for free instead of paying for watching them. With more and more people switching to digital, illegal streaming is defiantly a rising issue. I think that the NFL can try to market games more but it is inevitably down the personal decision of how you watch, if at all.
ReplyDeleteI think some of it has to do with online streaming, nfl redzone and other more "natural" viewing reasons. In addition to that though, the issue that everyone takes with the concussion epidemic in the NFL has definitely had an intense impact as well. I think that the impact of fewer people playing the sport has also had a legitimate impact. People like to watch sports that they played. When fewer people have blatantly played, viewership can get mixed up a bunch. I think if the NFL made safety an issue on the forefront, viewership would bounce back up. That and just addressing their shortcomings.
ReplyDelete1. I think the main reason behind the decline in NFL ratings is a combination of things. Most importantly, I think the game is becoming more violent. Players are getting bigger, faster, stronger, and the technology in the game isn’t suiting for these athletes. Players are getting brutally injured and viewers don’t want to watch a barbaric sport that football has become. Because of this, ratings has declined. Secondly, I think politics plays a role in ratings. Trump and multiple other political figures publicly telling players to stand during the national anthem has created a feud between politicians and players. People feel that the purity of the game is being polluted by politics and this has caused people to stop watching.
ReplyDelete2. Yes, I mentioned this before but Players are getting bigger, faster, stronger, and the technology in the game isn’t suiting for these athletes. Viewers are starting to turn on football because of its violent nature. People are starting to keep their kids from football and turning them onto other sports. This will eventually make its way to the NFL and viewers will see a decrease in talented athletes. I truly think that the NFL will be non-existent in the not so distant future because of this issue. I also think the precedent on amateur sports in being more and more apparent. Ratings are rapidly rising for college basketball and football. I personally believe this is because thy are simply playing harder. They is no added drama to the game and it is wildly entertaining.
3. I think the NFL needs to keep trying to make the game safer. This will keep athletes interested in playing the sport and will also gain viewers who stopped watching football because of how violent it is. This will also keep big name stars like Odell Beckham Jr. and JJ Watt from getting injured. The NFL needs to cut the drama out of the sport. They need to take out all of the negative attention and have the players focus on football. This works for the NCAA, why shouldn’t it work for the NFL?
I think one reason behind the decline in NFL rating is so many teams had a off year due to injury's. Including the giants. I think another reason for the decline is all the protest that went on with the national anthem. NFL Redzone I think has a big effect on the viewership of the NFL. Because Redzone combines all the games that are going on into one. People could just stop being interesting in football and not watching anymore which would decline viewership. For people to stop watching Redzone, the NFL could make the games more spread out and not multiple games on at once. This would stop people from using Redzone which would increase viewership of games. I think another thing that can be causing people to stop watching is the injury's which could scare people. So making the gamer safer could bring people back to watching the game.
ReplyDeleteI think that the NFL ratings decline is due to many injuries to star players. For instance I am a big Giants fan, but having the disappearance from Odell make it less exciting to watch. Also Redzone has taken away most of the mainstream channels views away. Instead of watching one game on Fox you can use Redzone to flip through all the games. This is definitely a major factor of declining ratings. I think that the NFL needs to try and make the game safer. More advanced technology and rules need to be created to keep players from getting hurt. If players aren't getting hurt I think that more people will enjoy watching the game because the players they like will be on the field instead of in physical therapy.
ReplyDeleteI think there are a variety of reasons that could explain the decline in ratings in the NFL. I do think that one factor are that many of the leagues stars were sidelined due to injury. When an exciting player is unaple to play that may be a factor for someone who isn't a die hard football fan to turn the game on. I think the biggest reason though was because of the controversies with the national anthem. When Colin Kaepernick decided to kneel during the national anthem it started an enormous political debate. I belive that some people do not want to mix sports and politics. For many sports is one of those things that are a distractor to some of the stressfull things that go on in the world. I also think related to this that some people who disagreed with kaepernick wanted to take a stand. People who may have thought he was wrong may have decided to boycott the NFL. I think in order for the NFL to return back to normal all the NFL teams need to be on the same page. It seems that politics are and will most likely forever be apart of proffessional sports. It will create lots of conflict if the team execuctives aren't on the same page as the players. The executives need to stand with their players in order to create unity.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a lot of things for the decline of ratings for the NFL. One of the things could be there are so many injuries happening in the past couple players. The injuries aren't just happening to normal players and such, they are happening to super stars. If you are a occasional football fan would you watch the packers without Aaron Rodgers? Or how about the Giants without one of the best wide outs in football? Not to mention the greatness that is JJ Watt. So injuries can play a factor but especially this year I think some of the reason the "boycotting" the NFL. People were boycotting because of the things that were happening earlier this season with teams and players knelling for the National Anthem. This caused some people to be very upset and stopped watching some games. While this may not be the biggest reasons it is obviously a factor. Another reason for decling in ratings could be becuase of the refs. Nothing is worse in football when there is a flag thrown on every single play, it slows down the pace of the game and just isn't fun anymore. If the NFL wants to incrace the ratings I think they should do better and protect there players more, cool down with the flags, and just make the game more fun.
ReplyDeleteI do not really think that there is a main reason, as I think that it is a bunch of factors mixed together that contributed to this decline in viewership. One of the things that I think had the biggest impact was that many of the flagship teams did not have very good seasons, as many teams struggled with injuries this year. I think this article hit all of the reasons for decreased viewership, and I cannot really think of anything else that is to blame. I think that viewership will go up next year if there is less injuries, as it will be more competitive and the big teams will be back into the contest. Also, while I do not necessarily agree that this is right, I think that there would be increased viewership if there was less politics in the sport.
ReplyDeleteI think the main reason the NFL's ratings have been declining is because of channels like red zone and how lots of people use streaming services rather than cable vision these days. I think this article mentioned most factors why the NFL's viewership is decreasing. I can't really think of anything else besides parent's not wanting there kids to watch football because they don't want them to be convinced to play. I Think that in order for the NFL to get their viewership risen, there has to be less injured players, I think they have to make games shorter by making halftime not as long and by not calling as many penalties, and I think that they have to take away slo-motion viewing for the coaches because it makes it much easier for the coach to call a challenge or not.
ReplyDeleteI think the article definitely hit the big factors that influence the decline in the viewership on the NFL. Components such as the NFL Red Zone might cause some of the ratings to decline because if ones team is not on their station then they have the ability to watch them and it gives people the opportunity to watch all games at once for big plays. People who play fantasy football would most likely allude to this option. Also, key player injuries could contribute to this cause or just your team having a bad season in general. I definitely think that the NFL making this game safer could increase viewership because if the athletes stay healthy, people won’t give up on their team as much and adults would let their kids join the sport. Typically, kids want to watch professionals in the sport they have or still play.
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ReplyDeleteI think that a big factor and influence in the decline of viewership would be the amount of live streams and nfl redzone which gives people easier access to watch the sports that they watch. Another big influence is parents possibly preventing their children to watch in order to prevent them from wanting to play in the future do to concussions and how that plays into the league.
The NFL could make the league safer with making it more entertaining for people to actually want to watch. With players constantly getting injured and not staying healthy declines viewership for many.
I know that one monstrous factor this year was due to the protesting against standing during the national anthem. I remember reading tons of articles just talking about how the protests could have detrimental affects on the amount of viewers for the NFL. There has also been tons of really underwhelming performances by really big name teams. This year was also a huge year of injuries with people like OBJ, JJ Watt, and Arron Rodgers. I don't think there is one definitive answer or a quick fix either to bring back viewership to the NFL. I believe more advertising of NFL Sunday should be enforced because that is a huge mentality for people.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the article presented many reasons why there is a decline on viewership on the NFL. I think that if the NFL begins to make the game safer and less of chance of getting hurt it may help with the decline. Many star players have begun to get injured due to the aggressive plays during the games. More viewers are likely to stay faithful with their teams if their athletes are healthy and able to play. I think that NFL red zone has a big factor on this as well because of they way it easily combines all the games that are going on into one. People are becoming more lazy and will just stop being interesting in football causing a decline on viewership.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the reason people are not watching the game is because of the kneeling before the games, and the fact that it’s a dangerous game. Middle america who is a great deal of the NFL’s core viewership is not watching because they believe the players are disrespecting the flag. Also, so many people are getting injured and it can be hard to watch with all these severe hits. This is also affecting youth football attendance, which in turn is affecting the amount of young people dedicated to football. I believe a reason not mentioned in the article is that it's such a slow game. The fact that the game can last for so long with so many advertisements just hurts the viewing publics experience with the game. I would much rather watch a fast paced basketball game then a football game that is slower and at this point less entertaining. I think the NFL like the MLB should try to speed the game up. Less time between plays and also less ads so that the game has a faster flow which will keep people watching instead of turning off the game for something a little more interesting than another car ad.
ReplyDeleteI believe one of the main reasons behind the decline in the NFL’s ratings is the political controversy that surrounds the network, as well as the sport in general. Politics have become the focus of various different aspects in our world today, especially sports. From Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem to President Trump tweeting that “players who protest during the anthem should be fired”, politics have become heavily involved in sports. For many, this takes away from the appeal of watching the game in general, as those who do not agree with the player’s protests have decided to turn off the TV in order to show their disagreement with those political views. Beyond this, many of the biggest NFL franchise teams, such as the NY Giants and the Cowboys, have had one of their worst seasons this year. Diehard fans of those teams may find no purpose in continuing to watch football unless their teams are involved, further explaining the major decline in the NFL’s ratings.
ReplyDeleteA factor that is certainly involved in the decrease in viewership that was not specifically mentioned in the article is the rise in awareness of CTE and concussions. With new research boasting scary statistics on just how many players have been drastically affected by the injuries they received playing the sport, many parents have turned to simply not watching football in an effort to not encourage their children to participate. I have three younger brothers who all enjoy watching and playing (flag) football, but many of their friends’ parents have decided simply to not let their children have a go at it out of worry of injury.
In order to get viewership back to where it once was, the NFL first needs to focus on raising awareness about the issues surrounding the network in general. By pointing out the aspects that have contributed to the decline in viewership, it shows responsibility as well as awareness on the network’s part about the surrounding issues. Seperately, I believe the NFL needs to do everything in their power to remain neutral. By showing favoritism towards one side or the other, many people will continue to simply turn the TV off.
I think the NFL's ratings are declining for a few different reasons. First, there are too many controversies surrounding the game. When Colin Kaepernick decided to kneel for the National Anthem back in the 2016 season, one of the biggest debates in football history erupted. One side thought he was a hero, and the other thought it was straight disrespect. Whatever people believed, many football fans were turned off to the thought of this controversy surrounding the sport. Many people watch football for the game, and as an escape from reality. This could be a reason for a decline in ratings. Secondly, the NFL causes more injuries than any other sport in the world. This has been known for years, yet it feels that commissioner Roger Goodell has done absolutely nothing to help it. The decline in viewership could be the fans just saying that they're sick of seeing guys kill each other out there. The NFL definitely needs to research new technology and develop new rules to reduce the number of injuries, and especially concussions.
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