NFL Once Again Posts Smashing TV Ratings in 2011

by Michael Bean on Jan 5, 2012 1:22 PM EST

So much for the prolonged lockout cutting into fans' loyal interest in the National Football League. The league just announced its final TV viewer ratings for 2011, and to say the season was a smashing success for America's favorite professional sports league would be an understatement. Here's a few of the key metrics and records broken:

According to The Nielsen Company, the 2011 regular season reached more than 200 million unique viewers.
NFL games were watched by an average of 17.5 million viewers -- the NFL's second highest viewership average since 1989 (17.9 million in 2010), before the explosion of viewer choice on television and online.
NFL games accounted for 23 of the 25 most-watched TV shows among all programming and the 16 most-watched shows on cable last fall. In addition, a record 37 NFL game telecasts averaged at least 20 million viewers - topping the previous mark set last year (35) and up from 16 in 2006.
NFL games continue to more than double broadcast primetime viewership. NFL games on CBS, FOX and NBC averaged 19.8 million viewers – 144 percent higher than the average primetime viewership among the four major over-the-air networks (8.1 million average on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC). That NFL advantage is up from a 66 percent edge five years ago.
FOX matched 2010 for its most-watched season ever while NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football posted its most-watched season ever. NBC Sunday Night Football was the most-watched show in primetime for the second consecutive fall TV season. ESPN’s Monday Night Football continued as cable’s most-watched program for the sixth season in a row. CBS had its second most-watched season since acquiring the AFC package.
NBC Sunday Night Football ranked as the most-watched primetime program for the second consecutive fall season averaging 21.5 million viewers. The Week 17 SNF game (Cowboys-Giants) was the most-watched Sunday primetime game in NFL regular-season history with an average of 27.6 million viewers.
For the season, NFL games were the highest rated program locally 91 percent of the time – the second consecutive season topping 90 percent.

Crazyness. Congratulations to the league and all its partners who enjoyed yet another staggeringly successful season broadcasting NFL games to the masses.

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Comments

So just to throw out a snarky remark

Do this prove that the average fan loves these offensive shootouts (or as plenty of us would call them, 7 on 7 games in full pads)?

If this were baseball I’d just say, “chicks dig the long ball”

http://dvrtalk.blogspot.com/

by average joe blow on Jan 5, 2012 1:44 PM EST reply actions

Yep

I love the Steelers.

by tannofsteel84 on Jan 5, 2012 1:48 PM EST up reply actions

Not, fans of football, but the other fans yes.

If you buy a foreign made product you give money to a person who will not be buying an American made product that you get paid to make. Think about it next time you're at the store.

by SNW on Jan 5, 2012 3:10 PM EST up reply actions

I think there are plenty of "football fans" at least they'd like to call themselves that

who grew up playing Madden and NFL Blitz and games like that and they absolutely love this version of the NFL. It’s a real life video game at this point.

http://dvrtalk.blogspot.com/

by average joe blow on Jan 5, 2012 5:09 PM EST up reply actions

Sad but true.

If you buy a foreign made product you give money to a person who will not be buying an American made product that you get paid to make. Think about it next time you're at the store.

by SNW on Jan 5, 2012 5:53 PM EST up reply actions

NFL Blitz offered hours of raw entertainment. do not bring that fine franchise into this fight

by klompus on Jan 7, 2012 12:32 PM EST up reply actions

I think the ratings are being inflated...

…by the plethora of Fantasy Football fans who only care about offensive production so their “teams” can win whatever pool their in.

Nothing acts like a cancer on a healthy body like money does, and Fantasy Football has become that cancer.

United we Stand, melded like Steel
To Roger Goodell, We'll never Yield.

by PaVaSteeler on Jan 6, 2012 10:45 AM EST up reply actions

I liked watching and keeping up with as many football games as I could before I ever started playing fantasy, in fact you could argue that I got into fantasy due to my enjoyment of keeping up with news around the league in general. But fantasy being the newest scapegoat of all the oldtimers is beside the point — money is the cancer, but fantasy football is the extension of that cancer…? not gambling, which has been around as long as sports?

by klompus on Jan 7, 2012 12:34 PM EST up reply actions

So much for showing the NFL the rules have gotten out of hand...

this will do nothing but affirm their position and worsen things.

I love the Steelers.

by tannofsteel84 on Jan 5, 2012 1:49 PM EST reply actions

And yet...

Roger Gotohell thinks advertisers will start pulling out, so more games are necessary.

:eyeroll:

Those who can...do.
Those who can't... post on message boards using a screen name boasting the name of those who can.

by Craig Sager's Wardrobe on Jan 5, 2012 1:50 PM EST reply actions

Just a question

How can the viewership of the Cowboys-Giants game be an average?

The Week 17 SNF game (Cowboys-Giants) was the most-watched Sunday primetime game in NFL regular-season history with an average of 27.6 million viewers.

A sampling of one can not produce an average (at least that is what I thought).

by Larrybob8187 on Jan 5, 2012 1:58 PM EST reply actions

they can break it down by quarter or even the last hour or first hour and so on of a broadcast

hence maybe 30 million were watching at the beginning and maybe 5 million tuned out once the Giants got up by 21 and then 7 more million tuned in once Dallas cut the lead to 7. Don’t understand how they know that, but they do or at least claim to know.

http://dvrtalk.blogspot.com/

by average joe blow on Jan 5, 2012 2:04 PM EST up reply actions

Thanks!

by Larrybob8187 on Jan 5, 2012 2:05 PM EST up reply actions

I imagine

They can do those things since the vast majority of viewers are using cable or satelite service. They can easily track what you are watching through the connection they have to your set.

by Larrybob8187 on Jan 5, 2012 2:07 PM EST up reply actions

They're not supposed to be able to just pull from your network box

here’s how wikipedia describes the process:

Nielsen television ratings are gathered in one of two ways:

1.Viewer “diaries”, in which a target audience self-records its viewing or listening habits. By targeting various demographics, the assembled statistical models provide a rendering of the audiences of any given show, network, and programming hour.

2.A more technologically sophisticated system uses Set Meters, which are small devices connected to televisions in selected homes. These devices gather the viewing habits of the home and transmit the information nightly to Nielsen through a “Home Unit” connected to a phone line. The technology-based home unit system is meant to allow market researchers to study television viewing habits on a minute to minute basis, seeing the exact moment viewers change channels or turn off their TV. In addition to set meters, individual viewer reporting devices, such as people meters, have allowed the company to separate household viewing information into various demographic groups, but so far Nielsen has refused to change its distribution of data of ethnic groups into subgroups, which could give more targeted information to networks and advertisers.

The crazy thing is that no one has really figured out how to adjust the ratings for DVR/Tivo’s yet so this is a very inexact science but everyone I guess has agreed it’s the best way and accepts the numbers as fact…….so it’s sort of like the BCS.

http://dvrtalk.blogspot.com/

by average joe blow on Jan 5, 2012 2:17 PM EST up reply actions

block quote fail

but you get it, hopefully.

http://dvrtalk.blogspot.com/

by average joe blow on Jan 5, 2012 2:17 PM EST up reply actions

GO SALARY CAP, GO!

"It’s easy to lie with statistics, but it’s easier to lie without them." -Fred Mosteller
Follow me on Twitter

by John Stephens on Jan 5, 2012 2:02 PM EST reply actions

we need it to go up lol

I love the Steelers.

by tannofsteel84 on Jan 5, 2012 2:11 PM EST up reply actions

Not me

I was not one of those viewers for any portion of the game or most games not involving the Steelers. I watched less this year, I continued to watch all Steeler games, most 2 times but I really had no interest in watching other teams play whatsoever. The game is a mess in my opinion and has gotten worse each year of Goodell, I like 6-3 games with defense, big hits, a lot of pounding the rock behind a fullback,(cough)(cough), when the players not the refs and 500 penalties decide the outcome and the battle of attrition the game used to be. Whoever was the toughest and hit the hardest usually won and those are the football games I like. I don’t like tackle ping pong very much and I like reg ping pong even less and that’s the league to me. The Steelers will always be on my tv when they play but I can’t say the same for any other teams anymore. But apparently I’m the only one in the country who feels this way.

by SteelCity G on Jan 5, 2012 2:24 PM EST reply actions

You are not alone

problem is Goodell is not on of us.

If you buy a foreign made product you give money to a person who will not be buying an American made product that you get paid to make. Think about it next time you're at the store.

by SNW on Jan 5, 2012 3:15 PM EST up reply actions

You're not the only one...

Don’t know if anyone keeps track of the number of penalties, but it seemed that moving the ref resulted in many more “marginal” holding calls, and hardly a deep pass play goes without some interference call. The rules have diminished the importance of defense (Green Bay and NE as the #1 seeds, both with terrible defenses), and the popularity of NFL Red Zone just shows that most “fans” are interested in scores and celebrations. Can we get Jack Lambert as Commissioner? Please!

"The standard is the standard." Mike Tomlin
The standard for Steeler football is #58. Me

by The 58 Standard on Jan 5, 2012 4:40 PM EST up reply actions

No 1 Seeds

Can’t bitch too much about the No. 1 seeds this season – they both won a lot of football games. Fact is, these teams have adapted better to the “new rules” of the league they play in. A team can choose to play top-flight defense or top-flight offense – one way or another their style of play will determine their fate on the football field.

Me… I like offense – give me a high-powered offense, a skilled quarterback, great receivers, a talented running back to watch and I’m pretty happy. I enjoy seeing good defense too but, a 12-6 game is not my idea of great football. If you enjoy low scoring, defensive struggles – watch a soccer game. If you miss the violence of the old NFL, try UFC bouts.

You are right about the way games are officiated – it seems that getting near a QB or actually hitting a receiver is now forbidden but, this won’t stand, the NFL will realize that the game has become compromised by this craziness and do something about it. I hope they do anyway.

by profootballfan on Jan 5, 2012 6:19 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

booo

I hate 38-35 games.

I love the Steelers.

by tannofsteel84 on Jan 5, 2012 8:51 PM EST up reply actions

I see your point...

I guess I like more balance between offense and defense, and feel as though the defense is now handicapped by the onslaught of rules that promote high scoring. At the extreme (might be like the recent Green Bay game), the total offense focus means that the team who gets the ball last wins.

"The standard is the standard." Mike Tomlin
The standard for Steeler football is #58. Me

by The 58 Standard on Jan 6, 2012 6:38 AM EST up reply actions

Money for nothing.

In a year when the overall level of play in the league continued to decline and players were in such poor condition that an unprecedented rash of injuries broke out, the NFL’s impressive ability to hype a half-empty glass gives everyone the idea that nothing is wrong and nothing needs to change. Indeed, the market has spoken.

And when the NFL talking heads start to hype the Steelers’ Wild Card playoff game in Denver, they somehow will manage to avoid dwelling on the fact that the Broncos have lost as many games this season as they’ve won and they really have no business, along with the Bungles, being in the playoffs.

by Billy52 on Jan 5, 2012 6:45 PM EST reply actions

Even though there were some pretty bad match-ups on MNF (Seahawks-Rams, Chargers-Jags, Ravens-Jags, Bucs-Colts, Pats-Chiefs) they still cashed in like crazy

by LAL32 on Jan 6, 2012 12:34 AM EST reply actions