One of the big stories surrounding the NFL this season is that television ratings are on the decline.
But those numbers might be a bit deceiving as it relates to actual interest in NFL football. More and more people are beginning to abandon cable and satellite options in favor of streaming their content. One company that is benefiting is Sling TV.
Sling TV Chief Product Officer Ben Weinberger spoke with Rob Toledo of extreamist.com and reported a boon in business recently.
“We’re having record-breaking days,” he said. “Monday Night Football pay television ratings are tanking, but our Monday Night Football viewership numbers are breaking all our own records, increasing week over week. I think there is so much pent up demand for streaming live sports, and people want an alternative to pay television.”
The streaming provider had some issues last year broadcasting NFL games, and complaints were many. However, after some painstaking work complaints have dramatically decreased, per Toledo.
“In 2016, we’ve focused on a couple key things, scalability and infrastructure,” said Weinberger.
Toledo reports Sling TV has seen “massive subscriber growth this fall as live streaming of games has been a major draw for new members.”
This scribe can be counted among the many who have joined the cord-cutting movement. Sling TV has thus far been a positive experience, with the only minor drawback being that the streaming content appears to come in about a half-minute slower than it does on cable broadcasts.
It’s a tremendous value as well, costing more than two-thirds less than what it did to get the same services via DirecTV, once the second year of the 24-month contract kicked into effect.
With these things in mind, the next time you hear doom-and-gloom reports about how NFL interest is dwindling remember that the ratings do not count streaming services.