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NFL ratings down almost 10 percent in 2017

By Brad Berreman

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 17: Jim Nantz, Tracy Wolfson and Tony Romo attend the 2017 CBS Upfront on May 17, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 17: Jim Nantz, Tracy Wolfson and Tony Romo attend the 2017 CBS Upfront on May 17, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images) /
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For a second straight year, NFL regular season television ratings were down.

In 2016, a contentious presidential election was pointed to as the No. reason for a decline in NFL television ratings. This year players kneeling in protest during the national anthem, with some extra fuel from president Donald Trump about those that did so, led to fans boycotting the games. According to Nielsen, NFL ratings were down 9.7 percent during the just completed regular season.

NFL ratings were down eight percent in 2016, which spurred changes in how commercials are presented in order to speed up the game. Extra interest was surely brought to CBS’ No. 1 game each week, as Tony Romo made a well-received transition to the booth alongside Jim Nantz, but ratings fell even further this year overall.

Fantasy football, and the residual popularity of NFL RedZone on NFL Network and DirecTV, has also helped dilute the ratings for Sunday afternoon games. The general poor quality of Thursday Night Football games also hurts, to say nothing of the over-saturation that’s easy to point to as a drawback for anything less than hardcore NFL fans. An added medium to watch games on Thursday night, with Amazon Prime Video this year and Twitter in 2016, also helps dilute viewership for the traditional NFL television partners.

A drop in cable subscriptions and an overall change in viewer habits have affected all of television, and the NFL is not immune. That said, the NBA has seen a 20 percent jump in viewership compared to the 2016-17 season.

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Nielsen’s data still shows that 20 of the 30 highest-rated shows on television in 2017 were football games, and NBC’s Sunday Night Football continues to be rule prime time.

NFL television viewership is coming down from its peak, and may continue to decline. But the major networks would be more than happy if their other significant, non-sports programs pulled the kind of ratings NFL games do.