Are NFL TV ratings up or down in 2017?

Versus first 5 weeks of 2016, ESPN/Monday Night Football up 6%, CBS up 6%, FOX and NBC/Sunday Night Football both report up.

That's great news for the NFL.

In other news, Budweiser is slightly flexing its muscles:

The company has set up a hotline for customers to leave their thoughts about the protests by NFL players, but says it has no plans to end its sponsorship of the league. Bud Light is the official beer of the NFL.

NFL Sponsor Budweiser Wades Into National Anthem Controversy | Fortune

Versus first 5 weeks of 2016, ESPN/Monday Night Football up 6%, CBS up 6%, FOX and NBC/Sunday Night Football both report up.

Is there an article that you are quoting? I could see the possibility of the night games showing an increase simply because there were a few terrible ratings last year because they went up against Presidential debates.

Interesting, because I am reading the ratings are down. I know I read CBS was down 31% last week so found it hard to believe they were up.

Did NFL television ratings rise or fall in Week 4? | NJ.com

In one sense, Week 4 was great. According to Sports Media Watch , Fox Sports' single-window early game (Los Angeles Rams vs. Dallas Cowboys in most areas of the country) was up 22 percent from last season in the same time and week block.

Monday Night Football also is claiming big things, with ratings better this year than at the same time last season.

NFL says ESPN's ratings for the first five Monday Night Football games are up 6 percent from the first five MNF games last year.

-- Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) October 3, 2017

But CBS' late-window on Sunday afternoon ( Oakland Raiders vs. Denver Broncos ) did not do well, featuring a 31 percent decline from last season in the same week and spot.

In total, ratings are reportedly down in 2017.

Through Week 4, NFL ratings are down 9% vs last year thru Week 4. Ratings were down 8% last year vs 2015 over entire regular season.

I changed the thread title to a question.

I question if the NFL is doing some creative work with the numbers.

The Nielsen company said Tuesday that last weekend's nationally televised games averaged 14.2 million viewers, down from 14.8 million viewers the week before.

NFL football TV ratings down on weekend of boycott over national anthem protests | abc7ny.com

They're down in my family and friends households.

Folks can skew the #s all they want. Call it a hunch the NFL profits will take a hit this season!

Just saw this today:

An offseason storyline that grew in prominence among sports and news media was the talk of a TV boycott, or to borrow the hashtag, #NFLBlackout , among the league’s African-American fan base. Debates about its viability have raged on and offline, as well within and around the black community. You may feel free to argue its effectiveness, but the reality is that there have been across-the-board declines, with some more pronounced than others.

There has actually been a largely across-the-board falloff since 2014, yet the percentage drops among all black viewers have doubled with each passing year. After a 2014 peak of 2.93 million black viewers, 2015 saw a 2% decline (2.88M), followed by a 4% decrease in 2016 (2.76M) and this year’s nearly 8% drop (2.55M). Regardless of gender, black viewership has dropped across all major age breaks, though the nominal declines with older NFL fans would be considered flat in industry parlance. Among total viewers, only white NFL fans (-7.74%) have shown a bigger year-to-year drop through the first four weeks than black NFL fans (-7.71%).

As previously examined prior to the start of the season, the real impact of any potential TV boycott would be tested by black fans over 55. Black men of that age group have barely budged, yet black women – who have decreased in all ages by 11%, with 110,000 fewer viewers versus 2016 – have tuned out thus far to a 6% clip. Black viewers under 35, including kids under 17, continue to tumble as the average NFL game was viewed by 18% fewer fans compared to last year, a total of 132,000 viewers.

Source: Nielsen Media Research; 2015-17 NFL regular seasons through Week 4; Live+Same Day, nationally-televised broadcasts only (CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN – Excluding NFL Network).