NFL is losing its core audience as only 51% of men between 18 and 49 follow the league closely – down from 75% four years ago
Among adults, the number of those who followed the sport closely dropped 9% since 2014, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll
Only 51% of men between 18 and 49 say they follow the NFL closely, which is down from 75% only four years ago, according to the poll of 900 participants
Republican pollster Micah Roberts: ”If I’m the NFL I’m freaking out about that a little bit. They are the very core of the football-viewing audience’
The average audience was 14.9 million viewers per game, down 9.7% from 16.5 million viewers in the 2016 regular season, according to Nielsen
The 2016 viewership was down 8% from the 2015 regular season
By ALEX RASKIN
DAILYMAIL.COM
2 February 2018
After seeing its television ratings drop for the second consecutive season, the NFL received more bad news on Friday as a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed that the league’s core audience is rapidly losing interest.
Among adults, the number of those who followed the sport closely dropped nine percent since 2014, according to The Wall Street Journal. What’s worse, only 51 percent of men between 18 and 49 say they follow the NFL closely, which is down from 75 percent only four years ago.
‘If I’m the NFL I’m freaking out about that a little bit,’ Republican pollster Micah Roberts told the Journal. ‘They are the very core of the football-viewing audience. If they’re retreating, then who’s left?’
The pollsters did not inquire as to why the 900 fans’ interest levels have changed, but the league certainly faced its share of controversy in 2017, which may explain why television ratings dropped 9.7 percent after an eight-percent downtick the previous season.
In addition to concussion issues, the controversial player protests during the national anthem, and a host of injuries to key players, some fans have also accused the league of simply being lazy.
‘You watch the guys playing college ball, and I feel like they are trying a lot harder and you get a better game,’ 29-year-old Tim Muzzy told the Journal. ‘I don’t hear the talk about [pro] football as much as I used to.’
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell defended the league’s ratings and earlier this month.
‘We always want ratings to go up, but we’re 37 of the top 50 shows, which is higher than ever,’ Goodell told reporters before the Jacksonville Jaguars’ playoff game against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. ‘We’re likely to be the No. 1 show on Fox — excuse me, on all of television, the Fox Sunday afternoon game. Sunday night, prime time is for the seventh year in a row the No. 1 show. Thursday Night Football is No. 2.
‘I think dominance of the NFL in television is still very clear.’
NFL games remain among the most watched programming on television, but ratings took another significant dip during the 2017 regular season amidst controversial player protests and criticism over the league’s handling of concussions.
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