NFL viewership dropped 10 percent in 2017: report

From national anthem protests to Ezekiel Elliott to debate over what actually is a catch, the NFL endured a lot of drama during the 2017 season. 

Perhaps as a result, NFL viewership dropped nearly 10 percent during the regular season, according to USA Today Sports. This decline comes on the heels of an 8 percent drop in ratings in 2016. 

“NFL broadcasts had an average minute audience of 14.9 million compared to 16.5 million in 2016,” USA Today’s A.J. Perez reported Wednesday. “ESPN, which included its streaming audience, had the lowest drop among the four networks at a 7.7% decline. Fox had a 9.1% drop, NBC dipped 10.4% and CBS fell 11.2% compared to 2016.”

Ad Age’s Anthony Crupi cited the lack of competitive games as a cause for this most recent ratings drop, as well as the underperformance of several popular teams. 

“The average margin of victory for the 18 [Sunday Night Football] broadcasts was 12.9 points per game, the highest since 2014, and 10 of those games were decided by two touchdowns or better,” Crupi told Sports Illustrated. “Also not helping matters: Aaron Rodgers’ collarbone, an historically lousy New York Giants squad and a Dallas offense that may charitably be characterized as inept.”

Nonetheless, despite this dip in viewership the NFL continues to reign supreme  when compared to other television programming. 

“NBC’s Sunday Night Football still is on pace to be the most-watched prime time show for a record seventh year in a row,” Perez observed. “ESPN’s Monday Night Football dominated the key male demographic (ages 18-49) for all 16 of its broadcasts. The Sunday afternoon broadcasts on Fox and CBS also easily outpaced competing programming.”