Exactly how popular are various NFL teams? Well, there are countless ways to measure them, but Nielsen has come up with an intriguing one that combines several different metrics; national TV ratings, local TV ratings, national appearances (weighted based on ratings for games in different national windows), average impressions on Twitter around each game, and average of monthly unique visitors to the team’s website. Here are the results they came up with for the 2015 season:
There’s a lot of interesting information there, but let’s focus on five key takeaways:
5. The Giants’ local ratings: It’s notable that the Giants had one of the lowest average local household ratings in 2015. Of course, those ratings are a percentage rather than an absolute, and New York is the biggest local market (with a Nielsen-estimated size of 7,368,320 TV homes for the 2015-16 broadcast season), so the Giants drew more viewers on local TV than some teams that rank above them, but it’s still interesting to see them this far down. Some of that may be from the 6-10 season they had (which followed another 6-10 season in 2014, so there wasn’t a ton of hype entering the year), some of it may be from competition from the surprisingly-strong Jets (who went 10-6 in 2015, although they didn’t make the playoffs), and some might have been from the Mets’ run to the World Series. What really kept the Giants in the top 10 here was the number of national TV appearances they received and the success they found on Twitter.
4. The Panthers placing eighth: Carolina did just about everything right in 2015, going 15-1 (with the one loss in Week 16 against Atlanta, so they had “will they go undefeated?” hype for much of the year) and making it to the Super Bowl, and they generated tremendous interest on the national stage (as shown by their placing second in national ratings, sixth in Twitter impressions and eighth in unique website viewers). Thus, it’s a bit surprising that they’re not higher here. However, they didn’t receive a ton of national TV appearances and their local market ratings weren’t great. This list in general shows that media exposure isn’t highly correlated with winning.
3. The Eagles’ success: Philadelphia went 6-10 in 2015 and fired head coach Chip Kelly in Week 16, but they still finished fifth in these rankings. A big part of that was the numbers of prominent national appearances they received; as with the Giants and the Cowboys, national TV loves big-market NFC East teams even when they’re bad. It’s interesting that like those other big-market NFC East teams, the local ratings in Philadelphia weren’t great, though. The Eagles did enough in other areas to overcome that.
2. The Cowboys’ dominance: Dallas received the most weighted national TV appearances in 2015, and it’s hard to argue with that decision despite their 4-12 record when you see they brought in the top national ratings, the most unique website views and the most Twitter impressions. Even in a terrible season, the Cowboys are still driving viewers and discussion.
1. The Lions’ appearance: Many wouldn’t expect Detroit to be on a list like this, especially in a 7-9 season that started 1-6, and most of the metrics here illustrate why. They struggled in local TV ratings, and they didn’t generate a ton of online interest. However, they received a large number of national appearances, and many of their games went down to the wire, which may have helped keep the national ratings from slipping too far. It’s notable to see them on this list, even at 10th, and it illustrates how much of a factor those national appearances can play.
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