Remember how all of the NFL’s offseason chaos was going to hurt its popularity among female viewers? Yeah…about that. There hasn’t been any sort of drop in female viewership through ten weeks of the 2014 NFL season. In fact, female viewership is actually *up* across the board.
The Sports Business Journal has all of the data, and it’s illuminating. In 2014, the NFL is averaging a 4.6 rating among females 18 and over. Last year, they were averaging a 4.4 through Week 10 in that demographic. A decade ago, in 2004, the league averaged just a 3.6 in that demo. The increases, both from 2013 and 2004, have also been significant in the females 18-49 and females 25-54 demographics.
The growth of female viewership is also outpacing the NFL’s overall ratings growth, at least in the longer term. Over the last decade, the NFL’s average rating has jumped by 17.58%. In the three female demographics mentioned above, the ratings have jumped by 27.78%, 23.53%, and 27.03%, respectively. Compared to a year ago, the growth in female viewership isn’t as strong compared to the league’s growth overall. The NFL’s ratings as a whole are up 4.90%, compared to 4.55% in the 18+ female demo, 5.00% in the females 18-49 demo, and 2.17% in the females 25-54 demo.
What’s all of this mean? Well, it’s going to take a lot more than some questionable (to put it very mildly) off the field behavior to drive female fans away from the sport. The NFL machine keeps on churning, and people keep watching in droves, no matter what’s going on. The NFL escaped their troubling summer without so much as a dent in their regular season viewership so far. If it can survive that, what would it take to bring the league down?
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About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.