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The NFL saw a slight decrease in their TV ratings for the end of the 2024 regular season and the playoff games leading up to the Super Bowl.
An average of 17.5 million viewers tuned in per regular season game across all networks - marking a 2.2 percent decrease from last year. This year, eight of the twelve postseason games reported a year-over-year decrease in audience. Even though the NFC and AFC championship games rank as some of the most viewed programs of the year, the two conference championship games averaged 50.8 million viewers this season compared to 56 million from last season.
The NFL always ranks high on the charts in all of TV programming, not just sports. However, the drop in viewers this season compared to last season is somewhat surprising.
"The NFL lost a very small amount really over last year, but it still lost, which is unusual really," Correspondent at Breitbart News Warner Todd Huston told KTRH News.
Aside from many people cutting their cable over the past few years and not getting every streaming service that has NFL games, the league has faced some criticism from people for their embrace of Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
It doesn't appear that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will be putting DEI practices to a halt after this season is up either. The league decided not to include the phrase "End Racism," which was typically painted in the end zones of some stadiums, for the Super Bowl in New Orleans, but, Commissioner Goodell did take a stand publicly for the league’s diversity initiatives during his annual Super Bowl press conference. He said they make the NFL a better place.
“We got into diversity efforts because we felt like it was the right thing for the National Football League and we’re going to continue those efforts,” Goodell told reporters earlier this month.
Marketing expert Scott Baradell said most companies are acting on President Trump's calling to end DEI practices, but the NFL continues to embrace them, which could hurt their ratings even more moving forward.
"A lot of corporations came out big for DEI, but now they're afraid to," said Baradell. "There's this sense that there's been this change in public sentiment."
While the federal government and America's largest corporations are sacking DEI, the NFL looks to be propping it up even more.
"In the case of DEI, a lot of companies have pulled back on their programs and they don't want to be in trouble so they're being cautious," Baradell added.
Last year’s Super Bowl on CBS set a record with an average audience of 123.7 million viewers. This year's big game on Sunday, February 9, will be on Fox with Kevin Burkhart and Tom Brady on the call.