Sports Business Journal weighs in with an excellent piece on the topic of declining sports TV ratings. If you remain on the fence about whether the election is a major factor in recent declines (and I won’t blame you if you are) the chart at the bottom of the story which includes Y/Y comparisons for cable sports nets and cable news networks is still…pretty crazy*.
Go for the story, stay for the chart. Also a nice bonus of a 12 minute podcast with SBJ’s John Ourand and Austin Karp.
*The September numbers in the chart are from 8/29-9/25 so they don’t include last Monday’s presidential debate which works against the cable news networks but paints a rosier primetime picture for the cable sports nets (particularly ESPN) than numbers for the actual calendar month would have. Not a conspiracy, just the way Nielsen reports numbers for the month. Numbers that include the first debate will be reflected in Nielsen’s October numbers.
Food or cable which one you think wins.