The NFL is waking up from its ratings nightmare

pulse

December 23, 2016 7:47 PM

People floated a lot of theories as to why, from cord-cutting to injuries to Colin Kaepernick. But the party line at the NFL was that the decline had to do with "unprecedented interest in the presidential election."

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After a truly terrible start to the season, the NFL appears to have woken up from its ratings nightmare.

Before the end of the election, the average viewership for NFL games had declined 13% year-over-year, according to Macquarie analyst Tim Nollen. And for much of the season, e

The quality of the games has also had an effect, Teams with playoff potential and high-fantasy value, like the Cowboys and Patriots, have led the ratings recovery: Average viewership for these two teams’ games, for example, has been +20.2% and +8.1% YoY, respectively, for match-ups after November 8 that aired in the same timeslot."

But

With a visible improvement in viewership without competition from election coverage, we think it’s clear the ongoing primetime declines are due at least in part to competition from other options, from Netflix/Amazon/Hulu to catch-up viewing of VOD and other content,"

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