Fallout?

[Zam-Zam]

The NFL's shield isn't quite as shiny as it perhaps once was:

Declining NFL television ratings will lower CBS earnings, according to Credit Suisse.

The firm cut its third-quarter EPS estimates by 5 percent, citing CBS' softer Sunday NFL ratings. The media company reports on Nov. 2.

"We expect third-quarter network advertising to decline 3 percent (previously +1 percent), driven by soft ratings for both the summer schedule and for the start of the NFL season," wrote Credit Suisse analyst Omar Sheikh. "With only one of the three content licensing deals we expected for the second half announced in third quarter, we also expect content licensing revenue growth to be skewed to the fourth quarter."


Sheikh maintained his outperform rating and price target on CBS shares, which remains at $75, or 32 percent upside from Friday's close. He cut his third-quarter EPS estimate to $1.08, below Street consensus estimate of $1.12 from FactSet.

The analyst said CBS' Sunday NFL ratings are down 17 percent year over year during the first several weeks of the football season, according to the report. Sheikh released a similar report last week on Twenty-First Century Fox's earnings, which he also expects to disappoint thanks to weaker ratings by the NFL.


https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/16/cbs...e-to-weak-nfl-ratings-credit-suisse-says.html

 

[Jen]

Too bad.
And at some point the NFL just won't recover.

 

[Zam-Zam]

Too bad.
And at some point the NFL just won't recover.

I believe they'll survive, for now at least. Declining attendance in some cities and a drop in television ratings does indicate they've taken a hit, however, and that is going to cost NFL owners (and, eventually, players) some money. They're probably not going to like that.

 

[Arkady]

The NFL's shield isn't quite as shiny as it perhaps once was:

Declining NFL television ratings will lower CBS earnings, according to Credit Suisse.

The firm cut its third-quarter EPS estimates by 5 percent, citing CBS' softer Sunday NFL ratings. The media company reports on Nov. 2.

"We expect third-quarter network advertising to decline 3 percent (previously +1 percent), driven by soft ratings for both the summer schedule and for the start of the NFL season," wrote Credit Suisse analyst Omar Sheikh. "With only one of the three content licensing deals we expected for the second half announced in third quarter, we also expect content licensing revenue growth to be skewed to the fourth quarter."


Sheikh maintained his outperform rating and price target on CBS shares, which remains at $75, or 32 percent upside from Friday's close. He cut his third-quarter EPS estimate to $1.08, below Street consensus estimate of $1.12 from FactSet.

The analyst said CBS' Sunday NFL ratings are down 17 percent year over year during the first several weeks of the football season, according to the report. Sheikh released a similar report last week on Twenty-First Century Fox's earnings, which he also expects to disappoint thanks to weaker ratings by the NFL.


https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/16/cbs...e-to-weak-nfl-ratings-credit-suisse-says.html

With the NFL blackballing Kaepernick, and with at least one NFL owner threatening to bench any player who dares exercise his free speech rights, I can see why some people would be turned off by the league. And that doesn't even get into the CTE issue, which really has taken some shine off the shield. But, despite those problems, I'm not convinced the NFL has a particular problem, at least relative to sports in general.

Through week 6, NFL ratings are down 7.5%. But ratings for most sports are falling. Local NBA ratings were down 14% year on year.

http://awfulannouncing.com/nba/local-nba-ratings-drop-substantially-2016-17-season.html

MLB prime time ratings were down 6% from last year:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mauryb...elevision-ratings-for-each-team/#2155707b3799

Olympics ratings were down 15%:

http://adage.com/article/special-report-the-olympics/nightmare-rio/305594/

The NHL's ratings were down between 6% and 20%, depending on which metric you use:

http://awfulannouncing.com/nhl/2016-17-nhl-ratings-dropped-u-s-rose-canada.html

The PGA championship's final round was down a staggering 55%, and the Masters was down 11%, as part of golf's ratings tailspin:

http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/pga-proves-it-without-tiger-tv-golf-tailspin
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/the-masters-had-its-lowest-tv-rating-in-13-years-why

Ratings for tennis have been tanking for years:

http://fortune.com/2015/09/09/williams-sisters-tennis-ratings/

That includes a 26% decline in ratings for the men's final in the US open, and 6.25% for the women:

http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2016/09/us-open-ratings-decline-especially-men/61184/

NASCAR is an utter train wreck when it comes to ratings, setting various record lows. Ratings fell for 19 of 22 Cup Series races:

http://awfulannouncing.com/ratings/foxfs1-ends-2017-nascar-season-yet-another-ratings-low.html
http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2017/08/nascar-ratings-down-michigan-viewership-nbcsn/

HBO says ratings for its boxing telecasts are down 10% this year:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...t-hbo-boxing-fatigue-20160915-snap-story.html

Ratings are also plummeting for college basketball -- down 38%:

http://www.adweek.com/tv-video/desp...atings-plummet-ncaa-championship-game-170634/

Ratings for the College Football playoff were down 36%:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-college-football-playoff-ratings-20160101-story.html

So, that's the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, Olympics, tennis, golf, boxing, college football, and college basketball.

So, what do you think is behind this nearly across-the-board collapse in sports viewership in America in recent years? I understand that right-wingers are going to want to attribute the decline the NFL is seeing to a handful of players demonstrating in favor of civil rights. But that doesn't nothing to explain the others, and it seems to be a very broad-based problem.

 

[as seen on tv]

The NFL has one of the few business models which allows employees to openly insult customers with no impact to their compensation.

im not aware of this happening anyplace else, outside of government.

 

[Jen]

I believe they'll survive, for now at least. Declining attendance in some cities and a drop in television ratings does indicate they've taken a hit, however, and that is going to cost NFL owners (and, eventually, players) some money. They're probably not going to like that.

As long as they back off of their current silliness.

 

[Zam-Zam]

As long as they back off of their current silliness.

The NFL must be concerned - They held a meeting to discuss the National Anthem protests. I imagine they would like to get this resolved as it's probably not good for business.

 

[marvin martian]

The NFL must be concerned - They held a meeting to discuss the National Anthem protests. I imagine they would like to get this resolved as it's probably not good for business.

As with everything, when the SJWs show up, you can be sure the enterprise is on it's last legs and about to start circling the drain.