Why are MNF ratings low this season?

[ALF]

'Sunday Night Football' takes a big hit as NFL ratings still struggle   December 14, 2017

 

The NFL's premiere game of the week took a big hit in TV ratings on Sunday night, despite it being a close game.

 

 NBC wasn't the only one to see its NFL ratings take a dip. CBS' slate of games over the weekend were down 27% from last year, while ESPN was down 9%. Fox was the only network to see its ratings go up from last year with its numbers up 6%.

 

Overall, the ratings for the NFL's season are down 9% from last year.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/14/media/nfl-ratings-sunday-night-football/index.html

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Good. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I love the game of football. I hate the NFL.

 

It's a vile organization that's built its billions on the backs of taxpayers, and it can't die a painful, convulsive death soon enough. Kind of like the mainstream media.

 

[Fan in Raleigh NC]

Crappy games and too late of a start I want to see games at 8pm latest

[Gray Beard]

8 minutes ago, Fan in Raleigh NC said:

Crappy games and too late of a start I want to see games at 8pm latest

I've never understood why games have to start so late.  I assume it's because people in the Pacific Time Zone don't want the game to start before they get out of work.  With DVRs or streaming that doesn't seem necessary.  Why don't they consider the people in the Eastern Time Zone who have to go to work in the morning?  I haven't watched the second half of a night game in decades.

[Fadingpain]

On October 26, 2017 at 9:26 AM, row_33 said:

Romo, for me, is destroying all the other puppetheads pretending to do anything calling a game.

 

He explains the game in quick and useful detail, anticipates correctly what they are thinking for strategy.

 

Makes Collinsworth and Gruden even worse to me, didn't think that was possible.

 

C&G: "hyuck hyuck the refs were right again, they always are..."

 

C&G: "the QB stood there and then threw it, catch of the century, wow!!"

 

Great post and I agree entirely.

 

Romo is the best color guy for football I think I have ever heard.

 

Once you get familiar with him, it immediately becomes obvious what you are looking for in a color guy position...

 

A really smart, good QB who has very recently left the game and is still very current in terms of what he knows and in his connections to the game and contacts around the league.

 

The QB position is so important to football, you can talk about 1 team's QB or the other and what he is doing or thinking on every play and have it be relevant to what you are watching, and of course an ex-QB is probably going to understand more about tactical football than most players, b/c he has to.

 

There are a lot of NFL QBs who would NOT make a good color guy; Tyrod Taylor is the poster child for that group.  He is not smart enough, charismatic enough, and does not understand football enough, most likely to sound anything like Romo.  

 

But others would.

 

And yes, he makes the way a traditional color guy sounds instantly obsolete, and that includes Gruden and Collinsworth.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

 

Can't believe "Anthem Protests" scored over 30% in the poll.

 

No way that is relevant; I realize some posters here hate the way those Americans are exercising their American right to voice their opinion, and wish we had more of a USSR or Nazi Germany approach to the whole thing, but no way in hell that has anything to do with declining viewership. 

 

The problem is way more macro than that.  

 

It's combination of the NFL being a little over-exposed right now, in a natural decline part of the cycle, too watered down, and not enough good QBs and good teams to go around.

 

Most NFL games are third-party, neutral affairs for almost all fans.

 

No way in hell someone is going to stay up to watch Crap team A play slightly less crappy team B on most nights, when neither team is the team you root for, and you have to get up the next morning.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2017 by Fadingpain

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

If they would just make so the owners of the 12 worst teams have to pay 40 million to the state budget it would make it way more interesting. 

[Not at the table Karlos]

Espn app sucks and keeps freezing so I have to open and close it 40 times a game and that gets annoying so I watch something else

[KW95 - JA17]

ROMO sux big time.

 

He talks to much.  He calls the play and tells he viewer where the ball should go before the play even happens.  As a viewer, I want to watch on my own and make my own decisions on what I see in front of me.  After the play ROMO should come in and give us his knowledge.

[VaMilBill]

I've loved football for the longest time. But I honestly believe some of the biggest factors contributing to the decline in ratings have to be predictability. Every year everyone knows New England is going to be at the very least in the divisional round if not the Super Bowl. It's the same thing every year and I think people are generally sick of it. 

 

Also, the officiating is awful and biased. It pisses me off to a point where it's turned me off from the game. 

 

I used to sit on my couch all day Sunday to watch football now I only watch the Bills' games. I think, for a decent portion of people, that the anthem protests were the last straw.