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The NFL is experiencing dipping ratings this season, and a number of possible explanations have been presented. People have argued that the lead-up to the election played a role, as well as a perceived decline in play.
The one thing almost everybody can find common ground on is the fact that there are too many commercials during any one game. On a Sunday afternoon, many fans don't mind the number of advertisements because they can always switch over to another game. That's if they aren't already watching on RedZone, which contains no commercials.
However, during primetime games, it can become excruciating.
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The worst setup is the back-to-back advertisements. After just about every scoring play, there's a two-minute commercial break. Then, after the ensuing kickoff (often a touchback), there is quite commonly another two minutes of ads. It's brutal, and many people will tune into something else.
Finally, a change could be coming. Diana Marszalek of BroadcastingCable.com talked with Brian Rolapp, NFL Media executive VP and NFL Network president and CEO, who says the league is “looking very hard” at changing its commercialization of broadcasts. Part of this process involves analyzing how popular media outlets utilize ads and integrate them into their content. From Marszalek, quoting Rolapp: Running up to 70 ads per game can be a turnoff, he said. “In a world where Netflix has no commercials and consumers are used to 15 seconds of of pre-roll, is there a better way to do commercials with our broadcast partners?”
