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One way to address the declining TV ratings


pf9

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Need I remind you that I said in the first post the other major outdoor leagues have expanded their postseasons a combined 4 times since the last NFL playoff expansion? Kind of get the idea that change is more overdue than some library books.

 

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21 minutes ago, pf9 said:

Need I remind you that I said in the first post the other major outdoor leagues have expanded their postseasons a combined 4 times since the last NFL playoff expansion? Kind of get the idea that change is more overdue than some library books.

 

The other major outdoor leagues would kill to have NFL ratings not the other way around. The NFL is still the most popular entertainment show in the country. Their ratings have been down for 2 years after experiencing absurd peaks that weren't going to last.

You are overthinking it 

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IMO it's just that the current NFL product is, for the most part, garbage. That, combined with people cutting the cord and streaming get you the ratings you see today. There aren't any dominant teams in the NFL and there's a whole lot of average and below average and even terrible teams. Couple that with lots of superstars being injured and just the lack of overall young superstar talent that the NFL has, and yeah.

When the matchups and games are good, the NFL's ratings are still on par. It's just that that doesn't happen often. Changing the playoff format doesn't fix that. If the NFL wants better ratings, they've got to field a better product, and that would include investing in ways for teams to become better and players to not get injured as often.

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There are 2 explanations for declining ratings:

1.  With the ability to record the games, there's no need to actually watch it live...(also, the Redzone Effect)

2. Lots of bad football being played and the product isn't getting better.  

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The NFL finds new ways to piss off the fans nearly every week, seemingly. It is a business that’s too big to fail, but the cumulative effect of mismanagement is adding up. Many fans are on the brink of just giving it up, and it gets that much easier with each blunder. There are just better things to do with your precious time. 

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23 hours ago, disaacs said:

There are 2 explanations for declining ratings:

1.  With the ability to record the games, there's no need to actually watch it live...(also, the Redzone Effect)

2. Lots of bad football being played and the product isn't getting better.  

Here's my problem when people say the products bad. You still have to justify why the ratings are still better than they were for 95% of the leagues history and why they still are far and away the most popular thing on television. If it's uniquely bad now, why is it getting rewarded more than ever. And what was so different between now and 2012-2015 that changed it. Because that's the benchmark we are comparing it to when we are saying "the ratings are down"

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2 minutes ago, lancerman said:

Here's my problem when people say the products bad. You still have to justify why the ratings are still better than they were for 95% of the leagues history and why they still are far and away the most popular thing on television. If it's uniquely bad now, why is it getting rewarded more than ever. And what was so different between now and 2012-2015 that changed it. Because that's the benchmark we are comparing it to when we are saying "the ratings are down"

The product is bad compared to even 10 years ago, but the product is not immune to TV ratings in general, which are down across the board. So, while it may still be the most popular thing on television, it's still going to go down because of that.  

Even me, a football junkie, doesn't watch the same amount of football games as I used to, because I have other options to watch the games I want without having to park my butt on a couch for 3-6 hours on a Sunday or Monday or Thursday.  I can use those 3 hours to do other projects that I need to get done around the house (while the weather is still okay) or do other fitness activities and watch the game in full (or in 30 minutes via Game Pass) later.  

If they can't account for that in their ratings, it's logical then that the ratings are going to be impacted as I'm surely not the only one. And adding on top that it's a bad product (parity often leads to mediocrity, which there is a lot of these days), there aren't going to be a lot of games that I "have" to watch live aka "Must-see TV".

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2 minutes ago, disaacs said:

The product is bad compared to even 10 years ago, but the product is not immune to TV ratings in general, which are down across the board. So, while it may still be the most popular thing on television, it's still going to go down because of that.  

Even me, a football junkie, doesn't watch the same amount of football games as I used to, because I have other options to watch the games I want without having to park my butt on a couch for 3-6 hours on a Sunday or Monday or Thursday.  I can use those 3 hours to do other projects that I need to get done around the house (while the weather is still okay) or do other fitness activities and watch the game in full (or in 30 minutes via Game Pass) later.  

If they can't account for that in their ratings, it's logical then that the ratings are going to be impacted as I'm surely not the only one. And adding on top that it's a bad product (parity often leads to mediocrity, which there is a lot of these days), there aren't going to be a lot of games that I "have" to watch live aka "Must-see TV".

But we aren't talking about 10 years ago. Literally 3-4 years ago the product was virtually the same and the ratings were at their all time peak. 

That's why context is key here. We aren't talking about bad ratings. We are talking about great ratings that are a little down compared to a absurd trend defying peak that lasted for a long time. So if we are calling the problem the product, I'd have to see a substantial difference in the product now compared to the 2013 and 2014 season where we were hitting all time highs and growing like crazy. And I don't see that difference. The ratings today are still far better than 10 years ago. Especially in the context of all of television

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Players aren’t going to want to play more games. Also doesn’t the nfl still have more teams make the playoffs than mlb? I also don’t see the relevance of mls playoff expansion when its a newer league that has naturally expanded playoffs with expansion of teams, it started with like 10

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I recommend cleavage. Lots more cleavage.

Seriously, since there are so many alternatives to cable these days (satellite, streaming, etc), if the NFL really cares about its TV ratings and wants to boost them, they might consider scheduling some more interesting primetime matchups. They might also offer incentives to encourage people to watch via traditional TV - such as bonus footage, less commercials, etc.

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2 hours ago, DigInBoys said:

Players aren’t going to want to play more games. Also doesn’t the nfl still have more teams make the playoffs than mlb? I also don’t see the relevance of mls playoff expansion when its a newer league that has naturally expanded playoffs with expansion of teams, it started with like 10

I agree with this. Especially the first sentence. When the NFL starting kicking around the idea of expanding the regular season to 18 games, the talking heads started accusing the owners of not really caring about player safety. This idea would bring about the same criticism. 

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