Nielsen puts last night’s NFL kickoff game ratings between the NY Giants and the Washington Redskins in historical perspective:
Last night’s NFL Kickoff Game, between the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants and the Washington Redskins, attracted 13.5 million viewers, the smallest audience since 2002.
Could it be that John McCain’s acceptance speech at the GOP Convention, which aired during primetime on the same night, cannibalized the NFL’s TV viewership?
Two other possibilities from Nielsen’s sports media analysts: viewers shut off their sets and watched streaming video of the game at NFL.com – or headed out to watch the game in a communal setting.
YEAR NETWORK MATCHUP US HOUSEHOLD
AA%*VIEWERS (P2+) 2007 NBC New Orleans at Indianapolis 11.4 17,471,000 2006 NBC Miami at Pittsburgh 12.6 19,043,000 2005 ABC Oakland at New England 11.7 18,008,000 2004 ABC Indianapolis at New England 11.4 16,888,000 2003 ABC N.Y. Jets at Washington 12.9 19,149,000 2002 ESPN San Francisco at N.Y. Giants 7.6 10,799,000 *US HH AA% : Percentage of US households – Average Audience during entire telecast
I think it’s highly likely that it was the Republican National Convention that depressed the NFL ratings. I find the “Two other possibilities” from Nielsen rather amusing. People watched via NFL.com instead of their TVs? Way too much internet kool-aid consumption evident in that guess. Headed out to watch in a communal setting? I’m sure plenty did, but 4 million more than last year? Were there giant communal Redskins & Giants gatherings nationwide? Probably not.
If it wasn’t the convention, why not a simpler explanation? Maybe the game just wasn’t that good. I can’t comment on that because I didn’t watch the game, but I know Robert, the Redskin fan, did.
Update: Alert commenter Mark mentions the obvious reason for the difference, a 7pm start time vs. an 8pm start time last year.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
indedd the game suck.
I would guess the early 7:00 start time probably cost it at least a couple million viewers. The season opener usually doesn’t start until 8:00. I haven’t seen the half-hour breakdowns, but if the game had started at 8, wouldn’t the 10:00 hour have almost certainly gotten a much larger audience than the 7:00 hour did?
Mark, Bingo. That’s almost certainly it. Last year’s game started at 8pm. The one hour shift could easily have made the difference. I figured it was something simple, I just didn’t come up with the *right* simple explanation. Well done.