NFL TV Ratings Slump Again
- Fans are pulled to cable news, Weather Channel in opening week
- Better early season match-ups were supposed to fix 2016 woes
Leo Hindery on NFL Viewership, Sports Asset Valuations
This article is for subscribers only.
Fewer people watched the opening week of National Football League coverage than they did last year, a decline TV executives chalk up to Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.
Cable news and the Weather Channel almost tripled their audiences in prime time and grew fourfold during the day, according to data from the networks, drawing fans away from football. “Thursday Night Football” was down 13 percent, and Sunday games on Fox and CBS also declined. “Sunday Night Football” on Comcast Corp.’s NBC, featuring the arch-rival New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys, was a rare bright spot.