Overexposure, Not Anthem Protests, Blamed for NFL’s Ratings Woes

State of the Screens
State of the Screens
2 min readFeb 19, 2018

Is too much supply the main cause of the downward trend in NFL TV ratings?

The NFL makes roughly $7.3b each year from TV rights.

Ratings comparison (2017 vs.):
1)
2016: ↓ 5%
2)
2015: ↓ 15%

What about the anthem protests? Viewership in blue states is dropping faster than in red states.

Viewership decline:
1) Blue states: ↓ 10%
2) Red states: ↓ 9%

More on the NFL. ESPN Can’t Afford Monday Night Football Any More

Yikes!. Every pay-TV subscriber in the U.S. pays $21.50/year to watch Monday Night Football as a part of their monthly bill.

More on this topic. TV Ad Prices: Football Hikes, ‘This Is Us’ Soars, ‘Walking Dead’ Stumbles, ‘Empire’ Falls

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