Through six weeks of the season, games across all its television partners are averaging about 16.3 million viewers, up 3 percent from last season.
Like a quarterback shrugging off a sack, the NFL is brushing off doubts about its ratings supremacy among U.S. TV viewers. Linear ratings for the league hit a multiyear bottom in 2017, prompting a rash of speculation about whether pro football's stranglehold atop the Nielsen charts was coming to an end. But now, as ratings for other programming keep declining, the audience for the NFL is rising.
"If the conversation around football is primarily about the game, then we're probably winning," says Michael Mulvihill, executive vp and head of strategy and analytics at Fox Sports, which has the Super Bowl this season. "And if the conversation is about topics away from the game, we're probably losing. I think the focus for the past season and a half has become more where we'd like it to be, which is just on the games.
The NFL's improving ratings fortunes come at a time when ad-supported TV as a whole is in the midst of a sharp decline: "Even in the years where ratings were down, the relative strength of the NFL compared to the rest of television was actually getting stronger," says Mulvihill. "Now that things are back on a positive trend, I think the league is separating itself even further from everything else in the marketplace.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
'90s Kids Remember TGIF On TV, But Here's The Story Behind Your Fave SitcomsThat Literally Happened! looked back at the hottest television programming of the '90s — TGIF!
Read more »
Behind All That Zara and Gucci — the Stylish Outfits on The Politician Are Full of MeaningI won't lie, I made it through the entire first season of Netflix's The Politician in less than a week because of the clothes alone. I was eager to see what
Read more »
'The Real' Story Behind Tisha Campbell-Martin’s Reunion with Half-SisterThe 'Martin' actress had been working with an investigative genealogist for 'several years' before the show aired.
Read more »
Writer Nicholas Meyer on the Inspiration Behind His Latest Sherlock Holmes Tale'How do you take on Donald Trump,' the Academy Award nominee and 'Star Trek' scribe told THR of his inspiration behind his latest novel.
Read more »
Justin Tranter Reveals The Heart Behind His Hits For Cardi B, Ariana, Halsey, And More.justtranter has worked with the likes of iamcardib, justinbieber, and ArianaGrande. He gave us the lowdown on his process: “The more specific we can be in our work and our lyrics, the most universal it becomes”
Read more »