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NFL Gives Explanation for Early-Season Ratings Dip
- Updated: October 7, 2016
The National Football League sent out an internal memo Thursday to provide its explanation for the decreased television ratings during the first month of the regular season. The NFL cited interest in the presidential election as a key factor in the early decline.
Darren Rovell of ESPN.com, who noted the overall drop across all networks that carry NFL games is 11 percent through four weeks, passed along comments from the release sent to the media committee by league media executives Brian Rolapp and Howard Katz.
“Prime-time windows have clearly been affected the most, while declines during the Sunday afternoon window are more modest,” Rolapp and Katz wrote. “While our partners, like us, would have liked to see higher ratings, they remain confident in the NFL and unconcerned about a long-term issue.”
The memo pointed toward a similar decrease in viewership during the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, according to ESPN. Each broadcast network has seen a decline of between 4 and 11 percent in that cycle.
The ongoing campaign between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton has also attracted a massive amount of attention. Sam Thielman of the …
