Why do the NFL and the networks do this?

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macrae1234 · #1 Post by **macrae1234** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:11 am

This weekend has four games Giants at Tampa, Redskins at Seattle, Titans at San Diego and Jaguars at Pittsburgh. For some reason they feel compelled to play a Saturday Night game 8:00 PM Eastern. I don't know why it is unlikely that NBC will get more fans anyone who would watch Sat night would watch Saturday afternoon. It is not sweeps so they can't add to ratings bottom line but they want to do a game so what one do they choose Seattle No, Tampa Bay reaonable weather No, San Diego reasonable weather NO, Pittsburgh reasonable weather not likely. BTW they have next weeks schedule and the Sat Night game is Indy NO, Dallas No Green Bay NO It will be in Foxboro.

gsabc · #2 Post by **gsabc** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:37 am

Green Bay's not likely to have reasonable weather, either.

Let's face it, with only reruns and "reality" shows to fill the airtime during the writers' strike, night-time football is all they have that might pull in viewers to the extent that advertisers want. They're choosing what they think will pull in the most pairs of eyes. At the moment, that's New England in the second round, and Pittsburgh and Big Ben by their calculations in the first round.

macrae1234 · #3 Post by **macrae1234** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:49 am

I might agree on writers strike but they have done this for several years and as I said for advertisers I don't think they gain any increase in viewers with a late game and Saturday has been death valley for years

thguy65 · #4 Post by **thguy65** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:54 am

Even though number of viewers is probably similar for Sat afternoon and Sat night, but my guess is that the networks can charge advertisers more for a "primetime" game.

silverscreenselect · #5 Post by **silverscreenselect** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:58 pm

Last Saturday's Giants/Patriots game was the most watched television program since last year's Oscars. Between CBS and NBC, over 25 million people watched the game, and the two broadcasts will be the #1 and #2 rated shows for the week. The NFL Network also broadcast the game, as did local channels in New York and Boston so the final ratings will be even higher, perhaps up towards 30 million.

Saturday programming is virtually all reruns of crime shows and old movies, along with a handful of news magazines and Cops on Fox. So, the networks will look for any excuse to dump that for sports programming which has the potential for good ratings.

Right now, New England is by far the most compelling story of the playoffs so look to see them get the best spot the networks can give them as long as they last.

macrae1234 · #6 Post by **macrae1234** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:30 pm

Saturday programming is virtually all reruns of crime shows and old movies, along with a handful of news magazines and Cops on Fox. So, the networks will look for any excuse to dump that for sports programming which has the potential for good ratings

Yes but my contention is they would have gotten the same or better ratings in the afternoon and since it is not a sweeps month, which by the way is why the SB is in Feb, prime time means nothing. Do the old movies etc get more ad dollars then the afternoon programming that was on if we assume the same audience and the same revenues NFL network bumped the rates for this game from 85K to 200K and would have got the money whether it was on at 100 eastern or 8 eastern. Its the same lunacy baseball uses for running the WS in prime time where games end at midnight eastern in prime time in often un baseball conditions at best. Play the games in the afternoon local time, House and Bones get better ratings than the WS

lilclyde54 · #7 Post by **lilclyde54** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:34 pm

The Giants/Patriots game was scheduled long ago for Saturday night so that the NFL Network could show it without competition from other NFL outlets. More recently, when they saw that the cable companies were not going to cave to their demands, they saw an opportunity to let the networks (NBC & CBS) simulcast the game and expand their viewership.

They then used that expanded viewership to encourage viewers to contact their website and find out ways to pressure their cable systems into meeting the NFL requirements for carrying the NFL Network.

They weren't as concerned with ratings as they were letting viewers who were not getting the NFL network see what they were missing and showing them a way to influence their cable systems to pick up the NFL Network up on the NFL's terms.

silverscreenselect · #8 Post by **silverscreenselect** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:54 pm

Adding the NFL Network and local NY and Boston ratings, the game drew a total of 34.5 million viewers, largest figures of the season for any broadcast.

If the game had been on a Sunday, it wouldn't have drawn that much because of all the regional telecasts of other games that would have eaten into its ratings. On a Sunday night, it probably could have beaten those numbers, but one thing in its favor is that there was no competitive programming on other networks. There's probably a number of people with marginal interest in football who wouldn't have skipped Desperate Houswives for this game but would skip a rerun of Women's Murder Club (which ABC aired).

Obviously, this game surpassed NFL Network's wildest expectations since it was scheduled before the season started. However, most Saturday games will probably draw better ratings at night against what the networks air than in the afternoon when more people are out.

silverscreenselect · #9 Post by **silverscreenselect** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:57 pm

macrae1234 wrote:Play the games in the afternoon local time, House and Bones get better ratings than the WS

No matter when you air them, House and Bones are only going to have 22 or so new episodes a season, so it's better to fill one of those other 30 weeks with a World Series game than K-Ville or any of the other dreck that Fox throws out there.

And World Series games may not draw as many fans as they once did, but they will get higher ratings at night than on a Wednesday afternoon.