CBS wrapped up its portion of the “Thursday Night Football” package last week, with the net’s five broadcasts -- including the audience on NFL Network -- averaging 14.7 million viewers. The figure this season is down 16% from 17.6 million viewers for CBS’ eight-game “TNF” package last year, which did not have to compete with heavy election coverage. Streaming numbers for Twitter are not included in that number, nor did they have a big impact on the viewership drop for CBS. (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
TRIP ACROSS THE POND: In St. Louis, Dan Caesar writes despite the "very early kickoff time" for Giants-Rams last Sunday from London, viewership levels were "decent" in both L.A. and St. Louis. It was 6:30am PT when the game began, with L.A. drawing a 5.5 local rating for the game on NFL Net and the local CBS affiliate. It was 8:30am CT in St. Louis, where the game drew a 3.9 local rating despite being "shown only on NFL Network -- which many St. Louisans do not buy" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 10/28). Giants-Rams finished with 3.9 million viewers on NFL Net on Sunday. That figure excludes the local affiliate numbers in N.Y. and L.A., where the game was shown over the air on broadcast TV. By comparison, that figure for the Sunday morning game topped the NASCAR Sprint Cup race on NBCSN late in the day, which drew 3.6 million viewers (Karp). Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd said of the NFL playing games in London, “They’re a mess. First of all, they hurt all your broadcast partners. ... (and) it’s not good for your business partners." Cowherd: "I can live with Thursday, (but) those Sunday morning games, I forget they’re on” (“Speak for Yourself,” FS1, 10/27).
STARS AT NIGHT: In Tulsa, Bill Haisten writes ratings have "declined this season, but the NFL benefits" from the Cowboys’ "return to relevance." The league’s two largest audiences this season to date have been for Cowboys games. In the 11-season history of "SNF" on NBC, the Cowboys have "made more appearances -- 35 -- than any other team." The team "makes appearance No. 36 on Sunday." Even while positioned against Fox' coverage of Game 5 of the World Series, there is "at least a possibility that the Eagles-Cowboys showdown breaks the SNF record for total viewers." The current record of 30.4 million viewers was set on Dec. 30, 2012, when the Redskins defeated the Cowboys 28-18 to secure the NFC East title (TULSA WORLD, 10/28).
KEEPING IT QUALITY: In Boston, Chad Finn writes under the header, "NFL's Ratings Drop A Quality-Control Matter." The NFL has "recently begun to acknowledge its concerns, and so it has become something of a schadenfreude-tinged parlor game to try to pinpoint the specific reason why this is happening now." Many theories about the ratings issues are "based in a desire for confirmation of individual beliefs." Finn: "No, the plunge in ratings is not primarily due to Colin Kaepernick’s protests, or because Roger Goodell’s duplicity has become a nationwide turn-off." Common sense "strongly suggests that it is not one thing, but a confluence of events of various proportions that have contributed to the downward trend." The build-up to the election is "of course having some effect, and probably a sizeable one." The hunch here is that NFL ratings will "begin trending upward again in the aftermath" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/28). Seahawks CB Richard Sherman in a post for the THE PLAYERS' TRIBUNE wrote observers "can point to the NFL legislating the emotion out of the game as a contributing factor" to the ratings decline. Sherman: "The NFL is enforcing a policy against celebration. Against joy. Against fun." It is something a "lot of players are frustrated with, and it appears that fans may be as well." Sherman: "Now, the league is reaping what it has sown" (THEPLAYERSTRIBUNE.com, 10/27).
DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK: THE RINGER's Byran Curtis profiled ESPN's Chris Mortensen and his return from a recent fight with cancer. While he was "in the cancer ward, his phone glowed with bits of inside dope sent to him by sources around the NFL." In the old days, he would have "taken the intel and raced to twitter." However, while under chemo, he "found himself glancing at the texts and not following up." Mortensen's "cool began to melt only when he started to get a number of death threats" following his coverage on Deflategate. He said, “What bothered me is we’re in an era where if your wife goes onto social media, she basically reads that they want you to die. Even after I got cancer, I got some death wishes." As the Deflategate threats "began to pile up, Mort told his wife, Micki, he "didn’t want her traveling to Connecticut anymore." He has done "five remote shots for ESPN." The net "greeted this as a triumphant return to TV, but it’s also a reminder of how far Mort has to go." Radiation took "such a toll" on his throat that he has had to "teach himself how to swallow again." He picked the Sept. 23 edition of "NFL Insiders" for his return, but "wasn't up to traveling." ESPN instead found an SEC Network camera at the Univ. of Arkansas that "wasn't far from his house" (THERINGER.com, 10/27).
A CHALLENGER APPROACHES: Analysts said that Time Warner being purchased by AT&T could "cause strategic challenges for Disney and its ESPN unit." Credit Suisse Dir of Equity Research Omar Sheikh said that the merged company will have "significantly larger earnings and cashflow than Disney." Sheikh: "This will confer an enhanced ability to bid for sports rights from 2021 onwards, and thereby put pressure on Disney to invest further in ESPN’s direct to consumer distribution capabilities." BROADCASTING & CABLE's Jon Lafayette noted AT&T "owns DirecTV, which has had to spend aggressively to keep its exclusive Sunday Ticket deal with the NFL." One reason for lowering forecasts at Disney’s cable net is the "lower ratings NFL football is getting" (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 10/27).
