NFL can improve ratings by shortening games, but cutting advertising isn’t the answer

The declining television ratings for NFL games has been a consistent theme this season, and while the league is exploring some options to shorten game broadcasts and make games more watchable, they may not be feasible.

“We want to take as much what we call dead time, non-action out of the game, so that we can make the game more exciting,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said recently during the DealBook conference hosted by the New York Times.

One solution the league is considering, according to John Ourand of Sports Business Daily, is cutting down on advertising during games. One glaring problem: networks pay obscene amounts of money for the rights to broadcast games each week.

Still, the average length of each game is increasing year after year, and it is part of the reasons fewer fans are tuning into games on television. In 2014, the average length of an NFL game broadcast was 3:07, and so far this season, that figure is up to 3:12.

Advertising is a necessary evil, and while some adjustments could be made to the length and number of commercials during broadcasts, it’s unlikely to be an easy fix.

CBS, NBC and FOX, all pay the NFL over $1 billion per year for the rights to broadcast NFL games, and ESPN pays upward of $2 billion. These expenses are justifiable because of the advertising revenue networks secure for in-game commercials, and while the league is exploring the possibility of raising advertising costs for shorter, more exclusive ad content during games, it’s going to be a tough sell.

There may be other ways the league can work with networks to adjust advertising to limit the time dedicated to commercials during game broadcasts. Networks could partner with brands to get more creative about advertising, and maybe move away from the traditional commercial.

Successful marketing relies heavily on subliminal interpretation, anyway. While commercials like Von Miller covering Justin Bieber for Madden are memorable (sorry that you probably have that song in your head again), more subtle, less traditional advertising could also be impactful and help networks sustain the ad revenue they rely on to balance out the exorbitant amounts they pay to broadcast games.

Aside from making changes to advertising, another possibility the league is exploring is refining the replay process so that it’s less lengthy. Replay has become an important part of the game, and officials make enough mistakes in real time that it’s necessary to maintain a level of fair competition. Still, replay halts game action, and it adds a lot of time to already long broadcasts.

Modifying the replay process could work, and it may be the easiest solution for the NFL to streamline games and make the viewing process more engaging. There’s precedent in the NBA and NHL for centralized replay review, as opposed to having game officials leave the field, review the play, make a decision and then announce it, which is quite slow and, frankly, boring.

That’s not the only in-game change the NFL is considering. Shortening the explanations referees give for penalties is a pretty common sense approach that could shave some of the dead time off of games. Think about Ed Hochuli for a moment. Every time he begins to explain a penalty, you know you’re about to waste entire minutes of your life that you’re not getting back. Cutting those down would help, if only a little.

Another change the league may undertake is shortening halftime, and while that’s valuable time for teams to catch their breath and make adjustments, shaving off a few minutes would bring the game action back more quickly for viewers and ensure they don’t tune out.

Any of these options would be more practical and realistic than trying to change the way networks handle in-game advertising.

Longer game broadcasts with less actual football action is by far not the only reason for the decline in ratings. It’s become easy to follow the NFL without actually watching games, and fans have become frustrated by bad officiating and primetime matchups that aren’t compelling.

There’s also probably an element of fatigue for viewers with nationally broadcast games. With primetime football on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays, not to mention oddly timed games in London, it’s pretty easy to justify not watching every single game.

The league is also considering pushing those 9:30 a.m. London start times back to 1 p.m. ET. That will probably help to some extent, but game length is still the factor that is most within the NFL’s control and has the greatest potential to make games more watchable.

Cutting advertising, though, is not a practical or realistic solution, and it’s not one the networks would accept without a fight.