HOW POLITICS AND COVID HAVE EATEN AWAY AT SPORTS TV RATINGS

Says the Washington Post:

Viewership of major sporting events is down across the board, including in leagues with no social-justice messaging to speak of.

According to data compiled by Sports Media Watch, golf’s U.S. Open was down 42 percent. The Kentucky Derby: 43 percent. The Stanley Cup finals: 61 percent. The vaunted NFL is down 13 percent early in its season. MLB’s division series were down 40 percent. A World Series between, potentially, Atlanta and Tampa Bay isn’t likely to change the tide.

Several factors are fueling the drop, according to viewership data and interviews with TV executives and industry observers: the intensity of the political news cycle, a glut of sports on TV and viewers’ lives being upended by the pandemic. A new survey shows some Republicans say they’re tuning out over social-justice messaging, but the data tells a different story.