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Three Reasons The NFL's Ratings Are Down

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- NFL ratings are down. Ratings for the NFL's biggest primetime games dropped about 12 percent from last year during the first couple weeks of the season. They were down in Week 3 too, including the lowest-rated Monday Night Football broadcast ever.  However, that lowest-ever Monday night rating shouldn't be too reflective because something else was going on that night: the first presidential debate.

Another possible factor in the NFL's ratings slide: a lot of the games weren't all that good. Several star quarterbacks were on the sidelines and nearly half of the primetime games through week 3 were decided by 14 points or more.

Social media could also be a factor.

In 2014, the NFL partnered with Facebook to give Facebook game highlight clips (with ads from Verizon); this year, the NFL launched an official "Discover" channel on Snapchat; it also sold Twitter the right to live-stream 10 Thursday Night Football games. That there are more places than ever before to find clips and highlights from NFL games on something other than a television.

The NFL is also dealing with issues like protests, player conduct scandals and plenty more. No matter what, professional football is still the most watched sport in the U.S.

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