AdAge published their Top 50 most watched broadcasts of 2017 and despite a 9% YOY NFL ratings decline, 37 were NFL games; up from 28 in 2016 (Olympic year) and matching the league’s total from 2015. 9 of the Top 12 were NFL games and Super Bowl LI was the most watched program. 11 other playoff games made the list, as did 6 Sunday Night Football games, the season opener on NBC and 18 CBS and Fox Sunday afternoon windows. The highest rated non-NFL sporting event was Game 7 of the World Series (#13, 28.2 million); Game 5 of the NBA finals was the NBA’s highest rated game (#23, 24.5 million).
Howie Long-Short: On a network basis, Fox (FOXA) had the most sporting events in the Top 50 with 15; including the Super Bowl, 4 NFC playoff games and 2 World Series games. CBS and NBC (CMCSA) each had 13. ABC (DIS), which does not have regular season rights to the NFL, had just 5 of the Top 50 broadcasts. NFL ratings are down, but ad sale revenue is up 2%, makegoods are down and the average cost per spot is up 1% from the 2016 season.
Fan Marino: Former adult film star (and social media influencer) Mia Khalifa is building a name for herself within the sports world; co-hosting a show on Complex News’ YouTube channel with Gilbert Arenas and starting a Twitch channel to play NBA2K and NHL ‘17. Now she’s using the platform to call G-League games (watch her co-stream Grand Rapids vs. Fort Wayne, here). With 10 minutes to go in the 1st quarter of last night’s game, more than 3 million people had visited her Twitch page. It’s obviously not an apple to apples comparison, but just one NBA game this season had 3 million viewers (GSW vs. OKC on November 22nd). I may not ready to give up Mike Breen, Marv Albert and Ian Eagle for Khalifa; but it appears there is an audience who is and prefers a co-hosted stream to the traditional broadcast.
DESPITE ANOTHER RATINGS SLUMP, THE NFL REMAINS TV’S TOP DOG
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