IPFS News Link • Entertainment: Sports
NFL TV viewership fumbles for the first time in 4 years
• nypost.com By Richard MorganSure, the number of people tuning into NFL games fell 14 percent through Week 9 of the 2016 season — which ended a day before Election Day — but they were also marginally lower in the last eight weeks of the season, a report Monday from Drexel Hamilton media analyst Tony Wible and stats from Nielsen reveal.
Overall, average TV viewership for the 2016 NFL season fell 8 percent, to 16.5 million people, from 17.9 million the previous year.
It was the steepest dropoff in viewers in the past 10 years — and only the third down year since 2007.
To be sure, the 2015 NFL season drew an average of 17.88 million viewers a game — the highest average audience in a decade.
"The season's overall volatility may suggest ratings are near an inflection or peak," Wible wrote.