I would say that 80% of people enjoy some aspect of watching sports; whether it’s the food, drinks, socialization, or the actual game, there is something for everyone. So why in a time of social distancing, where there is so little to do, are TV ratings for sports plummeting?
Although the research presented in this article is incomplete, it introduces some interesting points. Ratings for sporting events that typically draw in millions of viewers, like the NBA finals and the NHL’s Stanley Cup, had almost half the amount as last year, even the NFL was down 13% from the previous week! Additionally, sports like tennis, golf, horse racing and college football have seen at least a 25% decline from 2019.
Because of the coronavirus, people of all ages have had to completely adjust the way they live. This has affected many aspects of our world, including the way businesses are choosing to market and how content is consumed. This article contributes the decline in views and ratings to numerous factors, many of which are stated as unknown, but a primary thought is that it is due the abundance of sporting events occurring at the same time. For the first time, the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, and WNBA, all had games last Sunday. Another thing to consider is the current political climate which is drawing more TV consumers to the news.
For FOX Sports, this research is extremely important because the number of views and ratings determine the cost of running ads during games played on the FOX Sports Network. If views are down, companies will want to pay less money to run their ads on the networks, resulting in them losing money. FOX Sports consumers are their most important public and this research is in response to their habits. To respond to this, PR professionals should be doing there own independent research as well as brainstorming how to bring more viewers in during game time.
This information could be directly implemented to help with the design and tactics of our campaign. If this research is more developed and thorough, it could provide some helpful insights to how the typical user consumes game content. Using cable providers is now the inferior way to watch TV, a majority of my friends strictly use streaming services. In my opinion, I think it is a matter of time before they are completely abolished, and this is something that needs to be considered by my team.
To be completely honest, I found this article very surprising because I work at a sports bar and I see how many people these games bring in. At the same time, it makes sense, because there are always so many events simultaneously occurring.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/sports/tv-ratings-sports.html