Heading into Week 7 of the NFL season, the league's TV problems are getting worse, not better.
The average TV audience for NFL game telecasts fell to 15,026,000 through Week 6, according to Nielsen data. That's down 8.2 percent from 16,252,000 vs. the comparable period last year. It's also down a whopping 18.7 percent from 18,485,000 for the same period in 2015.
As the league nears the midway point of what has been a turbulent 2017 season, warning signs are building up for the NFL and TV partners Fox, CBS, NBC and ESPN. Consider the following factors.
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— We almost always focus on NFL's national TV audience. But the numbers look grim for local TV, too, according to Albert Breer of The MMQB.
"Twenty-five of 31 teams (excluding the Chargers, because of the move) are drawing lower local numbers than they did in 2016," wrote Breer. "Nineteen have dropped 5 percent or more, including brand name teams like the Cowboys (7 percent drop), Patriots (8 percent) and Steelers (6 percent), and both New York clubs (the Giants are down 7 percent, the Jets are down 37 percent). Conversely, only three teams (Chiefs, Bucs, Lions) have improved by more than 5 percent."
— Through Week 6, the NFL's TV numbers were down in 20 of 36 TV windows, according to Breer. While online streaming numbers have increased, they're not up enough to offset the loss of TV viewers. The numbers indicate the NFL's bottom line is going to be hurt.
“There’s no question this had an impact on the business,” Giants owner John Mara told Breer. “But this is an important social issue. And sometimes you have to put the interests of the business behind the interest of issues that are more important than that."
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— The NFL's TV partners rely heavily on teams with national followings, such as the Cowboys, Packers and Steelers, to drive TV numbers. But the Cowboys are 2-3. Aaron Rodgers of the 4-2 Packers looks like he's out for the year. The 4-2 Steelers, at least, gave the networks a thrill by beating the previously undefeated Chiefs last week.
— The league is still being boycotted by two angry, vocal groups of fans. #NoKaepernickNoNFL fans say they won't watch until Colin Kaepernick gets a job. #BoycottNFL fans believe player protests are insulting to the police and military. They vow to turn off the NFL until the league mandates all players stand for the national anthem.
Of course, other sports leagues would love to have the NFL's TV numbers. And protests are not the only factor driving down the NFL's TV numbers. Audiences across the board are shrinking as more consumers cut cords. Younger, digitally-savvy consumers don't want to watch games that last 3-4 hours. And with Trump in office, some TV eyeballs have shifted to news and away from sports.
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But the NFL is not used to having declining numbers at all.
The first step toward getting back on track, Seahawks defensive lineman Michael Bennett says, per Pro Football Talk, might be bringing Kaepernick back into the league.
