My only problem with this is that it probably just encourages the NFL to keep those horrid Thursday night games.
It is a little obnoxious to run into fans who care more about their fantasy team than the real football team (though I too occasionally find myself with conflicting loyalties). One thing this article does not mention is another big reason the NFL is happy to push fantasy - it takes some of the attention away from what has long been a primary driver of NFL fan interest, which is betting. http://www.latimes.com/news/la-et-1219-nfl-fantasy-20101219,0,5932507.story? And that, in a nutshell, helps explain why the story of TV viewing this fall has largely been one of the NFL and will likely go down as pro football's most-watched season ever. Twenty-six NFL games so far this season have grabbed 20 million or more viewers, a feat achieved by only nine non-football shows, according to the Nielsen Co. — and seven of those non-football shows were episodes of ABC's<http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/media/television-industry/abc-ORCRP000009600.topic>smash "Dancing With the Stars<http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/television/dancing-with-the-stars-%28tv-program%29-ENTTV00000013.topic>." Fifteen NFL games so far this year have averaged more than 25 million viewers. Just nine games hit that mark for the entire 2009 season. The growth of the Internet has fueled the rise of fantasy football, and that in turn is driving record growth in NFL ratings. Fantasy has become the TV executives' friend for two reasons: It has vastly broadened the game's appeal to include people who previously followed football lightly or not at all, and it rewards viewers for paying close attention from kick-off to the game's final seconds. Fantasy has changed the meaning of the game far beyond the traditional rooting interest shared by hometown fans. (SNIP) But is there hard evidence that fantasy players actually watch more TV? Well, yes — to some extent. (SNIP) David Poltrack, the research guru at CBS, recently crunched rating data for the NFL, looking for a fantasy effect. Poltrack said he operated under the assumption that if fantasy players were really boosting the numbers, then the ratings for non-home-team games that air in big TV markets would be rising relative to those of home-team games, when the enthusiasm of the non-fantasy-playing sports fans is presumably much higher. And that is indeed the case. In 2007, ratings for non-home-team games represented 58% of the ratings for home-team games. The following season, the number spiked to 62%. And last year, it climbed another percentage point, to 63%. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
