Sports Column
Fantasy Football and technology are changing the way we watch football.
Every Sunday during the National Football League season, from 1:00 pm to about 7:30 pm, my Dad and I watch NFL RedZone. Other than rooting for the New York Giants, I am rooting for players on my three fantasy football teams.
Many fantasy footballers find NFL RedZone to be a great way to watch football and to keep track of how their fantasy teams are doing. NFL RedZone is a commercial-free channel from NFL Network that shows the Sunday morning and afternoon games during the season. They show the big plays, all scoring plays, all turnovers, and live drop-ins. NFL RedZone has become more and more popular over the years.
According to Anthony Crupi in a recent article on the Ad Age web site, “Analysts estimate that the base [audience] is no larger than 4 million homes.”
Much of the audience likely tunes in in order to track their fantasy prospects.
According to Spending & Saving Tracker, over 74 million Americans participated in fantasy football in 2015, and spent $4.6 billion.
But as the number of people that watch NFL RedZone increases, will the ratings and ad dollars decrease?
“Given that the eight late national games on Fox last season averaged 26.6 million viewers and a 15.3 household rating, while CBS’s 4:25 p.m. package drew 25.5 million viewers and a 14.8 HH rating, it’s unlikely that anyone is losing sleep over the RedZone proposition,” said Anthony Crupi.
“And the ad-free service certainly hasn’t diluted either network’s revenue stream; depending on the time slot, matchups and demand, each nationally televised NFL game generates between $35 million to $50 million in ad dollars.”
As more and more people play fantasy football, the more people will watch NFL RedZone. NFL RedZone has huge potential and we will see how far it goes year by year.
