Why NFL’s television ratings are rebounding this season
The National LOS ANGELES —
Football League is defying gravity in the changing television universe.
Three weeks into the 2021 season, overall viewing of the NFL is up 9% over the comparable period last year according to data from Nielsen and the league’s partners, with an average of 16.9 million viewers on TV and digital platforms. It’s the best start for the league since 2016, which analysts attribute in part to the easing of the pandemic and other factors.
CBS’ Sunday games are averaging 17.1 million viewers, up 16% over last year. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” is up 12% to 21.8 million viewers in the U.S. ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” is pulling in 14.7 million viewers, a 17% gain. Only Fox has seen a decline — down 13% to 16.2 million viewers — largely due to a blowout loss for the Green Bay Packers in its first national telecast.
The ratings rise is occurring as the overall usage of TV declined by 9% over the same period. Nearly all other dependable television franchises have seen their audiences erode in the face of viewer migration to streaming video platforms.
The top prime-time entertainment program last week was CBS’ “NCIS,” which scored 8.4 million viewers — about half of what the drama scored during premiere week five years ago.
Every major TV awards show hit an all-time ratings low over the last year, a streak that ended when the 73rd Emmy Awards show saw its viewership rebound on Sept. 20. But even that event got a boost from an NFL game lead-in on CBS.
The NFL’s start is its strongest since 2016, the year the league faced criticism from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump over players kneeling during the national anthem to protest police violence against the Black community. Cable news ratings also surged once Trump became president and his administration became a must-watch saga for viewers.
Brian Rolapp, chief media and business officer for the NFL, said the league never saw any evidence that political divisiveness in the country cut into its TV audience. But he acknowledged the league is benefiting from the shift away from cable news, where viewing reached record levels last year.
“We never really saw a ton of evidence that our viewership was materially impacted when we were more in the political news,” Rolapp said. “I think it’s a return to lighter things to watch. There has been a lot of heavy news and topics for people to consume on television in the past couple of years. They are migrating to things that are much more unifying and football is one of those things.”
According to the NFL’s analysis of Nielsen data, total viewing of cable news in the hours when football is on is down around 30% from a year ago.
TV news siphoning NFL viewers is not a Trump-era phenomenon, Rolapp said, noting that NFL ratings declined in every presidential election year since 1996.
The easing of the pandemic is also bringing viewers back after last season, when the league saw its regular-season TV ratings drop 7%. Teams were playing in the bleak atmosphere of empty stadiums for most of the year.