The Raiders-Eagles game on Christmas drew a 6.7, which is down nine percent from previous MNF games this season
The NBA had a merry Christmas, enjoying a 20 percent spike in television ratings across five games on Monday.
Meanwhile one of the NFL’s two Christmas Day broadcasts – ESPN’s Oakland Raiders-Philadelphia Eagles game – saw a nine-percent dip compared to the previous Monday Night Football games this season, according to Bloomberg. Furthermore, the NFL just announced it will forgo playing a Sunday Night Football game on NBC this week rather than try to compete with New Year’s Eve, which traditionally limits television ratings.
‘We felt that both from a competitive standpoint and from a fan perspective, the most fair thing to do is to schedule all Week 17 games in either the 1 p.m. or 4:25 p.m. ET windows,’ NFL senior vice president of broadcasting Howard Katz said in a statement to media outlets, according to Deadline.com.
As Katz explained, the NFL wanted to avoid moving a game to Sunday Night’s NBC broadcast that, because of games earlier on Sunday, might not have any playoff implications.
‘This ensures that we do not have a matchup on Sunday Night Football on New Year’s Eve that because of earlier results has no playoff implications for one or both of the competing teams.’
In a rematch of the last three NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors’ 99-92 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers drew a 5.5 rating. The NBA saw a 20 percent ratings jump overall
The NBA was particularly strong during the evening, generating a 3.35 overnight rating, meaning 3.35 percent of all households were tuned in to the NBA.
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s 112-107 win over the Houston Rockets drew a 4.1 overnight rating – the league’s highest for a primetime Christmas game since 2003 – and in a rematch of the last three NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors’ 99-92 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers drew a 5.5 overnight rating.
These ratings are even more impressive when considering that they were up against a pair of NFL games.
National NBA ratings are up about 20 percent on the year, according to The Washington Post. ESPN is averaged 1.8 million viewers across its first 30 games of the season, which is the second-highest audience total through Christmas Day in network history.
The Raiders-Eagles game did have a higher overnight rating than the NBA’s at 6.7, but that was still about nine percent off the season average for Monday Night Football games, according to Bloomberg.
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s 112-107 win over the Houston Rockets drew a 4.1 overnight rating – the league’s highest rating for a primetime Christmas game since 2003
But the news isn’t all bad for the NFL – a league that’s ratings have been under scrutiny this season as players have continued to peacefully protest inequality and police violence against minorities by sitting or kneeling during the national anthem.
On Sunday, Christmas Eve, CBS boasted a 20 percent ratings boost from a season ago with an average household rating share of 9.6 for its slate of local games, including Buffalo-New England, Miami-Kansas City, and Jacksonville-San Francisco.
Beginning with now-former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, NFL players have been protesting since the 2016 preseason amidst intense controversy. In response, many football fans have criticized the NFL while threatening to boycott the league. Even President Donald Trump referred to protesting NFL players as ‘sons of b******’ during a September speech in Alabama.
Since the start of the 2016, the league has seen national ratings decline from 16.5 average viewers last year to just 15 million this season, according to data compiled by RBC Capital Markets and reported by Business Insider on December 3.
On Sunday, Christmas Eve, CBS boasted a 20 percent ratings boost from a season ago with an average household rating share of 9.6 for its slate of local games
Sunday’s CBS games included Buffalo-New England, Miami-Kansas City (pictured), and Jacksonville-San Francisco, and helped the NFL secure one of its biggest ratings days of 2017