NFL's Hall of Fame Game Viewership Plummets, Lowest Since 2012
For many NFL fans, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game means that the drought is nearly over.
It’s the official kickoff to the preseason, which means the regular season is within shouting distance.
After having to make do with events like the draft and free agency, NFL fans are champing at the bit to see some actual football on a field, no matter how meaningless of a preseason game it is.
Except… that fervor doesn’t seem nearly as strong this year.
According to Sports Business Journal reporter John Ourand, the NFL’s first batch of ratings from its 2019-2020 season plummeted from the prior season.
Last night’s Broncos-Falcons Hall of Fame game averaged 5.329 million viewers. That’s down 21% from last year when the Bears-Ravens averaged 6.779 million viewers.
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) August 2, 2019
According to Ourand, Thursday’s Hall of Fame Game featuring the Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons averaged 5.329 million viewers.
Compare that to the 6.779 million viewers that the Hall of Fame Game featuring the Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens had last year.
That’s a drop of 1.45 million, or 21 percent. Losing a fifth of your viewership year-over-year is not an insignificant loss.
According to Sports Media Watch, the overnight ratings dropped as well, though not nearly as steeply.
Last year’s Bears-Ravens game netted a 4.7 overnight rating. This year’s Broncos-Falcons matchup garnered a 4.1 rating, the game’s worst since 2012.
For what it’s worth, bad preseason ratings is not indicative or predictive for regular season ratings at all. To the average fan, preseason games are literally meaningless and often don’t feature the NFL’s best players.
By that same token, however, it’s hardly been a secret that NFL ratings have been a rollercoaster as of late. Amid the occasional uptick, there has been a noticeable downward trend.
In fact, it was bad enough that at the end of the 2017 season, the NFL even had to refund some advertisers due to the poor ratings.
To be clear, relativity matters here. Even a diminished NFL is the king of cable television and, frankly, it’s not even close.
Other sports TV of note from Thursday:
* NASCAR Trucks on FSI: 498,000 viewers.
* Cubs-Cards/Astros-Indians on MLB Network: 360,000.
* Wyndham Championship on Golf Channel: 312,000.
* The Basketball Tournament on ESPN: 195,000.
* X Games on ESPN 149,000.— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) August 2, 2019
So, even with lower ratings, the Hall of Fame game still averaged more viewers than basically all the other major sporting events on Thursday combined.
However, between a cadre of controversies, such as national anthem protests and various player problems, it does appear as if the NFL’s never-ending PR battle has started to take a tangible toll.
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