The Panthers' 23-20 win over the Saints Thursday night drew a combined 9.3 overnight rating on NBC and NFL Network. The game was the first of five "TNF" broadcasts this season for NBC and led the Peacock to a win for the night in primetime. It also was NBC's highest-rated Thursday night program since Panthers-Broncos kicked off the NFL season on Sept. 8. New Orleans and Charlotte predictably were the top markets for Thursday's game, followed by Greensboro, Raleigh-Durham and Norfolk (THE DAILY). SI.com's Richard Deitsch prior to Thursday's game noted CBS and NFL Network averaged 14.7 million for its slate of five Thursday night games this season, "down 16% from 17.6 million viewers a year ago." If NBC’s viewership for its part of the "TNF" package can near last year’s numbers, that would be an "indicator (not an absolute but an indicator) that the election was the primary factor" for the drop (SI.com, 11/17).
START OF A TREND OR A BLIP? NFL Exec VP/Media Brian Rolapp admitted the first part of the season "has been challenging” in terms of declining ratings, though he noted the league "had a great week last week.” He said, "We’ve seen a lot of this in election years. In fact, we’ve been down in ratings in every election year since the early ‘90s. We didn’t expect this to be any different, but there are other factors at play as well." Rolapp noted the ratings have declined "disproportionally in our primetime games," but he blamed that on the fact those matchups "have not been as competitive as we would like." Rolapp: "We hope we rebound. Sunday was encouraging, and we’ll see where we go the rest of the year, although we’re uncertain at this point” ("Power Lunch," CNBC, 11/17). In N.Y., Justin Terranova writes there will be a "better idea of how much the election was responsible" for the NFL's ratings dip this Sunday, when the matchups are "much tamer" than last week. The late-window national game this Sunday is Eagles-Seahawks on CBS, while the "SNF" game is Packers-Redskins. However, the matchup for the NFL to watch is Raiders-Texans on "MNF" from Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. ESPN's 7.9 overnight rating for this week's Bengals-Giants "MNF" game "continued Monday night's nose dive in the ratings." The Raiders "could be a savior not only this week, but for the rest of the season as the team has a national following and is relevant for the first time in 14 years." They "have the potential to be the AFC’s version of the Cowboys" (N.Y. POST, 11/18).
BALANCING ACT: Many pundits have wondered if the market has been oversaturated with more Thursday night and early Sunday morning games. Rolapp said that is something NFL execs "look at every year." He said, "We’re always balancing what we hear from fans, which is they want more football. But we’re also balancing that with is there a saturation point? We have not seen it, and if we do, we’ll certainly make adjustments. But it’s the questions we keep asking ourselves: Do we have too many windows out there?” The MMQB's Peter King noted the NFL has “always had this scarcity of product that helped them so much." King: “The NFL needs to take a good, hard look at scarcity of product” ("Power Lunch," CNBC, 11/17).
CHECK THE POLLS: NBC's Tony Dungy said he does not think 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick's "movement or player protests have impacted the ratings." Dungy: "But obviously the election has. You’re talking about a once-every-four-years event that is going to shape the direction of our country -- people should be distracted by that. You hope they would be. It is a short window and we will see what happens this second half" (MMQB.SI.com, 11/18). NFL player agent Leigh Steinberg in a special to FORBES wrote under the header, "5 Ways To Keep Ratings, Attendance Up At NFL Games" (FORBES.com, 11/17).
FROM THE TOP: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said viewers "have been talking about (TV ratings) for decades," though they are "less significant to a lot of people, particularly with the changes in advertising." Goodell added Nielsen ratings are "one aspect of (a bigger picture), but for a long time people have questioned that as a sole focus" (SI, 11/21 issue).
