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NFL Ratings Up for Every Network, Poised for Big Playoffs: TRAINA THOUGHTS

Perfect mix of teams, players, storylines should give NFL monster playoff ratings

Jimmy Traina

1. Fans were back in the stands, broadcasters were back in stadiums and, until omicron decided to wreak havoc on us in December, it seemed the pandemic was on the decline.

All of that added up to substantial ratings increases this regular season for every network that aired the NFL.

Via Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, NBC and ESPN enjoyed a 10% year-over-year increase in ratings, while CBS saw a 9% bump and Fox generated a 3% increase.

While the playoff picture isn’t completely set yet, it’s easy to see that the ratings increases should continue and will be quite significant.

The league has the perfect mix of teams, players and story lines ready to go for the postseason.

Nobody brings in more fringe viewers and casual fans than Tom Brady. Aaron Rodgers has become an enemy to some and a hero to others. Either way, that’ll bring eyeballs to the TV set. The Chiefs are back to being the most entertaining football team in the league. The biggest draw in the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys, are in the playoffs. And two teams from the country’s second-largest TV market, the Chargers and Rams, will be in the postseason.

Despite the issues the pandemic brought on last season, the NFL managed to finish 2021 with nine of the top 10 most-viewed programs of the year.

Two things stand out here:

One, the Christmas Day game between the Browns and Packers was a big success for Fox, as the ninth-most viewed program of 2021. The 4:25 p.m. ET NFL game on Christmas Day is here to stay.

Two: The power of the Cowboys is still real. The lone nonholiday regular-season game to crack the top 10 was the Week 11 matchup between Dallas and Kansas City.

Without a presidential inauguration this year and the great mix of teams and players in the playoff, it could be 10 out of 10 for the NFL in 2022.

2. This week's SI Media Podcast, which dropped Thursday afternoon, is a roundtable edition featuring Al Michaels and Tom Rinaldi on the career of John Madden.

Michaels, who worked with Madden for seven seasons, and Rinaldi, who was a director on the recent Fox Sports documentary about Madden, share behind-the-scenes stories, give us insight into Madden's personality and discuss some of the memorable relationships Madden had throughout his career.

Everything from Madden's fear of flying to the Madden Cruiser to his partnership with Pat Summerall and much more is covered.

Following Michaels and Rinaldi is the weekly "Traina Thoughts" segment with Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY TV in New York. This week, Sal and I talk about his bout with COVID-19, reaction to a Wizards broadcaster making an innocent mistake, Kirk Herbstreit's recent controversial comments and the best things we watched over the holidays.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

3. You know when you go to the barbershop and it has the poster on the wall with the various haircuts you can get? Kenny Smith thinks he found one of those posters with a young Charles Barkley on it, and Smith hilariously confronted Barkley about it on Inside the NBA last night.

4. Remember back in early November when Nikola Jokić gave a vicious sucker shot from behind to Markieff Morris?

Markieff has been sidelined since that incident and his brother Keef shared his thoughts on the situation yesterday with one hell of a tweet.

5. ESPN has announced that its new Sunday Night Baseball crew will be Karl Ravech, David Cone and Eduardo Perez.

6. If, like me, you've become enamored with Wordle and need a fix more than once a day, one of my Twitter followers has come through for us.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I saw this on TikTok yesterday and I had never seen it before, I have no idea what company it's for and I have so many questions.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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