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According to Bloomberg, the NFL’s TV partners have missed their ratings guarantees by as much as 20%. In September, ratings for Thursday Night Football on CBS were off 15%, Sunday Night Football on NBC was down 12% and Monday Night Football on ESPN dipped by 16%.
The NFL has attributed this to increased interest in the Presidential election, but there are other factors as well such as shoehorning games into new windows, anger over national anthem protests, cord cutters and lower female viewership.
All of this adds to lower viewership numbers and fewer eyeballs to watch commercials. One particular advertiser which purchased 100 game ads this year and last has seen an increase in make goods. Last year, the advertiser received six make goods, this year, it expects to receive 10. And with the networks charging a premium for ads, providing the make goods is the last thing it wans to do:
The price of a 30-second TV spot on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” costs about $674,000 on average, making it the most expensive commercial time on television, according to Ad Age. CBS’s “Thursday Night Football” is the second-most expensive, fetching an average $523,000 for 30 seconds.
Perhaps the NFL is no longer the invincible force that it was a few years ago. As recently as 2014, the NFL was seeing record numbers, but perhaps the viewership has peaked. For advertisers who want to reach the largest audience possible for their products, this has to be worrisome.
However, the NFL still points to the fact that it still has far wide reach and is still tops on television.
So as the season continues, the NFL has hope the numbers will go up as it gets closer to the postseason.
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