According to NBC, Sunday Night Football just completed its most dominant season ever in terms of ratings and viewership.
Sunday Night Football averaged 18.2 million viewers this season and a 10.3 rating. It was the worst rating for NBC’s SNF since 2008, adding to the testament that the NFL’s popularity bubble may have already popped. Sunday Night Football’s viewership declined, but their separation over the primetime program with the second highest audience increased. While it’s true the NFL experienced a significant decline in TV ratings during the regular season for the second consecutive year, it’s also true that linear television viewership as a whole has declined.
The primetime program with the second highest viewership for the fall of 2017 was CBS Thursday Night Football with 14.1 million viewers, followed by the Big Bang Theory which averaged 14.037 million viewers, trailing Sunday Night Football by 30%. The NFL has many issues leading to their ratings decline, but Sunday Night Football being the highest rated program with a 30% lead over the top non-sports primetime show, means cord cutting is one if the league’s biggest hurdles.
With 6.9 million digital viewers for the season, Sunday Night Football streaming was up 12% from 2016. 689 million minutes of SNF have been consumed via digital streaming this season, which is already a record for NBC Sports Digital. NBC had no week 17 game and the 689 million minutes for 2017 is still more than previous years, some of which included 17 regular season games, two playoff games and a Super Bowl for the network.
NBC recently reached an agreement with the NFL, allowing consumers to stream Sunday Night Football to their mobile device. The ability for viewers to watch Sunday Night Football on their phones should help NBC Sports Digital set a new record next season.
Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.
