Preseason football, which rarely features star players in the huddle for more than a quarter or two, saw continued declines for the week ending Aug. 19th.
All four networks which showcase the NFL saw declines for the second week of the pre-season warm-ups, with CBS taking the hardest hit, down 29 percent from last year’s 4.4 rating/8 share average over the two game span to a 2.5/5, with the week’s Chargers/Rams match up drawing a 2.0/4 with 2.9 million viewers for the telecast.
NBC showed a dip of 21 percent over the same period, dropping 21 percent from a 5.6/10 to a 4.4/8 score but still earning the highest total crowd from the big four.
Fox’s 3.7/7 average over the two games was down 5 percent, with a Vikings/Jets game pulling a 2.7/5 on Friday night, although the network is up 9 percent among men 18-34 to a 2.4 score.
ESPN aired two games over the course of the week, with a Broncos/49ers game on Monday that earned a 3.0/5 while a Thursday night game between the Dolphins and the Chiefs pulled a 2.7/5. By comparison, last year’s game featuring the Raiders and the Vikings during the same week in 2006 pulled a 3.7/6 for the cable network.