Fox led all Week 8 Sunday NFL telecasts yesterday with a 15.3 overnight rating for Cowboys-Redskins in the national window. That figure is up 4% from a 14.7 overnight for Packers-Falcons in the Week 8 national window last year, but down 22% from a 19.5 for Seahawks-Cowboys in '15. All three years had national windows for Fox leading into a World Series telecast. The 15.3 rating for Fox yesterday is the best for any NFL telecast in six weeks. Meanwhile, NBC last night drew a 9.4 overnight for Steelers-Lions, down 19% from an 11.6 for Packers-Broncos in the Week 8 "SNF" telecast last season. Both "SNF" telecasts went up against World Series games in primetime. Steelers-Lions peaked at a 10.1 overnight from 9:30-10:00pm ET. Pittsburgh led all markets with a 38.5 local rating, followed by Detroit with a 26.7. Yesterday also saw inclement weather in several Northeast areas, and no ratings were available for any networks from the Boston, Providence and Hartford TV markets. This had a bigger impact on CBS' NFL singleheader, which saw Chargers-Patriots go to 48% of markets. CBS also had the Texans-Seahawks shootout go to 30% of markets (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
|
NFL WEEK 8 SUNDAY OVERNIGHT RATINGS
|
|
NET
|
'17 TELECAST
|
RAT.
|
'16 TELECAST
|
RAT.
|
% +/-
|
|
CBS
|
(single)
|
9.1
|
(single)
|
10.3
|
-11.7%
|
|
Fox
|
(regional)
|
8.6
|
(regional)
|
9.0
|
-4.4%
|
|
Fox
|
Cowboys-Redskins (98%)
|
15.3
|
Packers-Falcons (98%)
|
14.7
|
4.1%
|
|
NBC
|
Steelers-Lions
|
9.4
|
Packers-Broncos
|
11.6
|
-19.0%
|
| CHART NOTE: All networks without '17 Week 8 Sunday figures for Boston, Providence, Hartford markets due to inclement weather. |
DOWN, BUT NOT OUT:
Patriots President Jonathan Kraft confirmed that NFL owners discussed TV ratings during their meeting last week and said, "Ratings are down, mid-single digits year over year. If anything has a negative trend in your business, you're always focused on it." Kraft: "One thing with television ratings, though, which relatively speaking is still a strength in the NFL -- if you were to go back to 10 years ago, the ratings for the NFL in absolute terms are materially higher than they were a decade ago. If you go to where prime-time television was, or literally anything else on traditional broadcast television, not only is it not up, it's down by about 40 percent." Kraft added, "In particular mobile viewing and attention spans of younger people are definitely going to require us -- and we have been thinking about it -- how to present our games in different ways and make sure going forward we maintain a strong entertainment product." Kraft added, "We're still, by far and away, the most watched thing on television. But television is a medium that is very, very rapidly transforming" (
ESPN.com, 10/29). In Boston, Ben Volin wrote ratings are a "concern for the NFL, as their multibillion-dollar deals with the networks have become a primary source of revenue." But the sliding ratings "continue to look more like a function of changing consumer habits than a decrease in the popularity of the NFL" (
BOSTON GLOBE, 10/29).
PRIME NUMBERS: Amazon in its Q3 earnings report noted that "TNF" games on the Prime service have "drawn a total of 7.1 million views in the first four games." DEADLINE's Dade Hayes wrote that figure is a "respectable number at this stage in the streaming game but one that comes from Prime members across 187 countries and territories." Viewing time across living room devices, mobile apps and the web "averaged 51 minutes" (DEADLINE.com, 10/26).
QUALITY OF COMMENTARY: SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" yesterday opened with a 19-minute discussion on the comments from Texans Owner Bob McNair, including a detailed report from reporter Josina Anderson on "what many of the Texans and Seahawks players felt." The show's panel of analysts "came down hard on McNair and it was a strong segment" (SI.com, 10/29). In N.Y., Bob Raissman noted ratings for "Sunday NFL Countdown" are "down double digits compared to the same point" in '16. It is "understandable" why ESPN made Rex Ryan the "centerpiece of the pregame show’s promotional campaign." However, the net "might have considered also giving" the show's new anchor, Samantha Ponder, a "promotional push -- especially for eyeballs who were not familiar with the work she did on other ESPN shows." This all makes observers wonder if the "forced departure of Chris Berman, the network’s long-time NFL pregame host, has driven eyeballs away" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/29).
