Ravens owner: Cut commercials to fix TV ratings

[Prime Time]

My favorite quote is: "I still don’t know any owner that’s in this business because of the money."
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http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news...mercials/3fdd160c-bc8e-4c41-a2ca-7d2246a8c62f

STEVE BISCIOTTI ON NFL'S RATINGS: FIX COMMERCIALS
Ryan Mink/BaltimoreRavens.com Staff Writer

This is for fans who will grow tired of watching commercials during this weekend’s playoff football slate.

Ravens Owner Steve Bisciotti is right there in agreement.

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that nobody wants to see two minutes of commercials, come back, kick the ball and then go to a minute-and-a-half of commercials,” Bisciotti said Tuesday. “I’ve thought that was absurd since I was 20 years old.”

The NFL’s declining ratings have been widely reported this season, and there’s been much talk about why. The 2016 election, the referees, players’ off-field-issues, the crackdown on player celebrations, the injury-inducing big hits (and lack of big hits) have all been cited as possible factors.

Bisciotti first questioned whether the ratings drop is just a reflection of problems across television. Consumers have turned more and more to their smartphones.

“This is the most precipitous drop we’ve ever had, right?” Bisciotti said.

“It has to be compared with everything else that [the television networks are] doing. I don’t know if ‘CSI’ is down 10 percent also. You’d have to compare apples to apples by looking at general viewership. But yes, those numbers were pretty stark at the beginning of the year.”

Still, Bisciotti thinks altering the commercials during games could be a place to start. The NFL already began experimenting in Week 16, as networks played with the number of ads in a break, the length of the ads and the frequency of the breaks.

“We’ve got to figure that out,” Bisciotti said. “Again, if you change that, it could mean a reduction in income, but that’s going to hit the players more significantly than it’s going to hit the owners. I still don’t know any owner that’s in this business because of the money.

“Everything is on the table, and if we have to go to ABC and NBC and say that we’ve got to cut some commercials out and give some money back and half of that money doesn’t go into the player pool, maybe that’s what we’re going to have to do. But our expenses would be adjusted accordingly too. So, I’d like to see some things cleaned up.”

 

[LACHAMP46]

How about put the cheerleaders in less clothes?

 

[Ram65]

I watch less. When I try to watch a game other than then the Rams it's hard to get into the flow of the game. They keep the clock running longer after plays which means less football. They have more timeouts do to challenges which brings actual football to a holt. Seems like 10 minutes to see a few plays. got figure a way to keep the pace of the game up.

 

[JIMERAMS]

people are getting tired of the crappy refs that is all. when that gets cleaned up people will start tuning in again. its just getting out of hand with the bias calls in this league

 

[Merlin]

Been saying it. There are two things the NFL needs to do:

1. Lower the number of penalties and the way every effin game pivots on penalties. The league is to blame for this by not making the refs permanent (I would build a corps of refs who are ALL full time employees and drill the F out of them to include use of technology for training and honing them), adding too many rules for the refs to manage in real time, and they are even considering adding yet another ref to the field, who of course will be pulling that flag from his pocket.

2. Reduce commercials for the love of God. I watch games other than the Rams, but not as much as I used to. Watching the NFL product is just abusive in the sheer amount of advertising. I would cut the commercials in half, and then add a ticker at the bottom of the screen that scrolls along the lower edge for the entire game, with a transparent background.

Gotta give the Ravens' owner cred here. He's seeing it right IMO.

 

[Jorgeh0605]

1. Allow more streaming options. As people like myself are cutting the cord, it becomes a big pain in the ass to try and watch a game on any network. So I don't generally tune in unless it's a Ram's game or a super interesting matchup like Packers vs Cowboys.

 

[den-the-coach]

How about put the cheerleaders in less clothes?

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

I watch less. When I try to watch a game other than then the Rams it's hard to get into the flow of the game. They keep the clock running longer after plays which means less football. They have more timeouts do to challenges which brings actual football to a holt. Seems like 10 minutes to see a few plays. got figure a way to keep the pace of the game up.

I record any games that I seriously want to watch. Each game on Sunday is about 3 hours long, so a half an hour into it I watch the recorded game and only fast forward through commercials. By the time I reach the last 5-10 minutes the game is live. So I catch up to the end and see it in real time. Works great and I don't have to rush around to see a 1:00 o'clock game. I get more done and don't deal commercials until the very end, when their seem to be fewer.

 

[Alaskan Ram]

I record any games that I seriously want to watch. Each game on Sunday is about 3 hours long, so a half an hour into it I watch the recorded game and only fast forward through commercials. By the time I reach the last 5-10 minutes the game is live. So I catch up to the end and see it in real time. Works great and I don't have to rush around to see a 1:00 o'clock game. I get more done and don't deal commercials until the very end, when their seem to be fewer.

I utilize the pause button on DVR at the first commercial break.
At any point in game that I catch up with live action, I pause again at next commercial break.
This makes watching the game a more enjoyable experience for me.

Unfortunately, I can only do this when the games are locally televised and I'm watching over my Cable box, which has DVR.
When I have to utilize my Sunday Ticket App via my Roku4 player to watch the Rams, there is no pause button. Sitting through those commercials drives me bat-shit crazy. Couple that with the Rams poor outings the 2nd half of the season, and my piss poor attitude had everyone in the house mad at me.

I want next year to be fun on Sundays.

If anybody knows a different Sunday Ticket streaming devise that has pause built into it's App, please come forward.

Go Rams.

 

[bluecoconuts]

More parity in the league would help, it seems that year in and year out the same teams are good and the same teams are bad. There needs to be efforts that allows a team to rise up in the rankings quicker than now.

 

[Ramrasta]

Bisciotti is right about the kickoffs. I hate that you see a kickoff and it's back to commercials. That being said, all the NFL cares about is money and it's not like they are struggling to pay the bills. They won't reduce ads until the viewship dips to the point that they have no choice.

 

[bubbaramfan]

Someone on another forum did a tally. He added up the minutes on actual football and the minutes of commercials. Game time all in all from start to finnish is around 3 1/2 hrs. commercials added up to a little over 1 hour, roughly 1/3 of a football game is commercials. Comentators talking about the game take up another hour. Actual football is roughly an hour and a half.

What bothers me is how often they go to a commercial. Commercials, then kickoff and right back to commercials in less than a minute. And it continues like that throughout the game.

What makes it even worse is they play the same 3 or 4 commercials over and over and over and over............:deadhorse:

And they wonder why viewership is down. :shocking:

 

[dieterbrock]

I record any games that I seriously want to watch. Each game on Sunday is about 3 hours long, so a half an hour into it I watch the recorded game and only fast forward through commercials. By the time I reach the last 5-10 minutes the game is live. So I catch up to the end and see it in real time. Works great and I don't have to rush around to see a 1:00 o'clock game. I get more done and don't deal commercials until the very end, when their seem to be fewer.

Yup, me too.
In fact that's how Ill watch 2 games. When one is on commercial, I'll catch up on the other.
Takes some discipline to not look at the score ticker on the bottom of the screen or view my text messages until I'm caught up.
But it sure beats commercials, extended replay reviews and injury time outs

 

[Selassie I]

I only watch commercials during Ram, Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday night, and Playoff games. While they are too repetitive and sometimes too damn long... they do provide me with a break in the action for trips to the bathroom and food/drink gathering. I make good use out of them LOL.

If you are actually watching a game live at the stadium... the commercial breaks are much more annoying.

My solution to commercials during all other games is simple. WATCH REDZONE. You won't see a single commercial from 1pm until after all the late afternoon games have concluded.

 

[Merlin]

They won't reduce ads until the viewship dips to the point that they have no choice.

That is the discussion here Rasta. Viewership is down, so who knows maybe the league will ease up on the greed and make the product a little better.

 

[dieterbrock]

Someone on another forum did a tally. He added up the minutes on actual football and the minutes of commercials. Game time all in all from start to finnish is around 3 1/2 hrs. commercials added up to a little over 1 hour, roughly 1/3 of a football game is commercials.

What bothers me is how often they go to a commercial. Commercials, then kickoff and right back to commercials in less than a minute. And it continues like that throughout the game.

What makes it even worse is they play the same 3 or 4 commercials over and over and over and over............:deadhorse:

Yeah man, nail on the head.
Considering a football game is 4- 15 minute quarters and a 20 minute halftime, that's a minimum of 1 hour, 20 minutes. So when a team goes on a long drive consuming 10 minutes of clock, you know you're in for it. Because regardless, the game will take 3-3.5 hours minimum

 

[Dodgersrf]

How about put the cheerleaders in less clothes?

Or show the chearleaders and less commercials.
Charge more for the commercials

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Yup, me too.
In fact that's how Ill watch 2 games. When one is on commercial, I'll catch up on the other.
Takes some discipline to not look at the score ticker on the bottom of the screen or view my text messages until I'm caught up.
But it sure beats commercials, extended replay reviews and injury time outs

I hate when someone calls me and mentions the score. Everyone that knows me should be aware by now that I watch my games in delay.

 

[Afro Ram]

The commercials are a little too much and too frequent. I have to put up with a local car dealership that has a talking dog for a mascot. The same commercial literally plays on every single break over and over again throughout the entirety of the game. Honestly I'm to the point now where I watched the first quarter or two then I come back and start watching from the middle of the third fourth. The game is dragged out too much as a whole

 

[dieterbrock]

I hate when someone calls me and mentions the score. Everyone that knows me should be aware by now that I watch my games in delay.

Yeah I hear that. What really ticks me off is when people know you're on delay and send a message that "doesn't give anything away" but still gives it away. Like a message of "you're going to like what happens at mid field" or "Why do they give 10 yards off the line of scrimmage on 3rd and 8?"