By Ellis Launder

Is there such thing as too much football on our TV’s? Surprising early season figures are suggesting so, as broadcasters and analysts search for the possible reasons behind this. Demand for live football has seen a constant increase since Rupert Murdoch introduced Sky TV to the Premier League in 1991. This has led to the Premier League TV deal exceeding £8 billion over three seasons. In the same period, BT Sport have shelled out almost £1bn for the Champions League and Europa League, whilst the FA have managed to squeeze around £820m over six seasons for the international rights to the FA Cup. In return, fans can expect a typical mid-season week to consist of Premier League action on Monday Night Football, Champions League on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Europa League on Thursdays, Championship football on Friday nights, and then a weekend jam packed with games from Saturday lunch time. Is it all becoming too much for the average football fan?

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Recent statistics show viewers for this seasons live Premier League games are down by a fifth, and the midweek Champions League fixtures have seen up to a 40% decline in figures. So what could be the reason behind such a drop in ratings? One suggestion is that simply the overexposure of the Premier League is becoming boring and therefore is putting off the average viewer. In October we were given an around 72 hours of constant coverage in the build up to Liverpool’s clash with Manchester United, to the point where it simply became boring and even cringe worthy. ‘Red Monday’, as titled by the marketing team at Sky Sports, saw 2.8 million viewers tune in to an uninspiring 0-0 draw which saw fans mock the pre match hype, and newspapers printing headlines such as ‘Dead Monday’ and ‘(Bo)red Monday’. Of course Sky Sports are not directly responsible for the result of the match, but to overhype a fixture to the point of overexposure, only to have it backfire and result in mocking, is a poor decision on the part of the broadcaster.

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Another suggestion behind the drop in viewers is the alternate ways in which fans can watch football these days. Many are choosing to head to their local pub in order to watch their chosen games, as the cost of a few pints to watch a match certainly works out cheaper than that of a Sky Sports subscription fee. Others look to streaming websites in order to avoid all costs of live viewing, which has been helped by the recent enhancement in USB streaming sticks and media boxes.

Another reason behind the drop in TV viewers could be that fans are now watching games on their smartphones and tablets, therefore meaning they can still watch the game whilst doing other things, as opposed to having to commit to sitting in front of the TV to watch the match. Figures back this up too, with BT recently announcing that match viewing via its app and website have increased by 17% this season, which is no surprise considering how heavily they promote it. Sky have done the same this season, promoting their Sky Go service and new Match Centre app, as well as heavily investing in their Now TV service, which allows non-subscribers to pick and choose which matches they want to watch and pay for, allowing for more flexibility and control for the viewer.

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Perhaps it’s too early to tell but whatever the reason behind the early season drop in TV viewers, broadcasters will certainly be keeping a close eye on proceedings knowing the significant amount of money they shell out to obtain the rights for the live games has to return a healthy profit. This naturally puts pressure on the Premier League to find out the answers, and if stats continue to show a drop in viewers, they will not hang around expecting the problem to resolve itself, so expect change to follow!

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