Advertisement

'Sunday Night Football' ratings down again, continuing season-long trend

Sunday’s Night’s AFC West showdown between the reigning Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos and upstart Oakland Raiders was an entertaining game, a 30-20 win for the Raiders, who now lead the division.

Except, not many people watched it. Or at least not as many people as would usually watch the NFL’s Sunday night showcase.

Raiders-Broncos was a fun game, but another night of declining ratings for the NFL. (AP)
Raiders-Broncos was a fun game, but another night of declining ratings for the NFL. (AP)

The Broncos-Raiders game drew an 11.7 overnight rating, down significantly from last year’s Week 9 Sunday Night matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. That game drew a 14.7 rating.

And it wasn’t just the primetime game: according to Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp, ratings for the national CBS afternoon games were also down 20 percent compared to Week 9 in 2015, and the Fox window at 1 p.m. was down 9 percent.

As noted by Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith, ratings have now been down in 26 of the 27 NFL primetime games this season.

The NFL has blamed the Presidential election and the interest in the contest on its sliding numbers. This week’s Thursday Night game will be the first post-election primetime game, but it features the Baltimore Ravens…and winless Cleveland Browns. Not exactly an appealing matchup.