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Ratings rush: The NFL is still dominating TV viewership

Ratings rush: The NFL is still dominating TV viewership

Ratings rush

As the 2023 NFL season approaches its climax, with all 272 regular-season games played and the 2023-24 playoffs set for the month-long lead-up to Super Bowl LVIII, America’s love of football is only growing stronger.

New data from Nielsen reveals that NFL league games padded out US TV viewership last year — accounting for a whopping 93 of the top 100 most-watched broadcasts, up from 82 the previous year, totaling 2.2 billion viewers. Along with college football, which accrued some 53.8m viewers over 3 games in the ranking, 2023 marks the first time that just a single sport has registered in the top 100, with not even one basketball or baseball broadcast making the cut.

Play-by-play

While political and cultural mainstays like the State of the Union Address (21st place) and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (25th) bring in big TV viewer numbers year-on-year, NFL games have been doing the hard yards to keep linear television relevant. Even as cable TV subscriptions are canceled at an alarming rate, the NFL notched 8-year viewership highs in the recent season, averaging 17.5m viewers per game across TV and digital, with Monday Night Football alone up 24% from last year.

Despite the shift from cable to digital observed across most US sports, the NFL’s gargantuan TV deals with streamers like Amazon, as well as its success in winning fans overseas and in new demographics, leaves the league’s future looking healthier than ever.

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Prediction markets show “One Battle After Another” leads in Oscar race for Best Picture

It’s finally Oscars week — and with voting officially closed, all that’s left to do is count the ballots and wait to see who wins this Sunday night. 

This year, the acting categories have been the most interesting to watch, especially the showdown between “Marty Supreme” star Timothée Chalamet and “Sinners” actor Michael B. Jordan for Best Actor. While Chalamet was long the favorite, Jordan has caught up and overtaken him after winning the Actor Award.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

But perhaps the most exciting race of all is for Best Picture. Out of the 10 nominees, the two at the top are Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” and Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” both of which are studio releases from Warner Bros. Discovery

Which will win the top prize seems to be split among award pundits and experts. As of Monday afternoon, Gold Derby still has “One Battle After Another” as the front-runner with odds of 76.87%. AwardsWatch, AwardsRadar, and Numlock Awards are also still predicting that “One Battle After Another” will take the statue for Best Picture.

On the other side, reporters from some major trade publications like Variety’s Clayton Davis and The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg predict that “Sinners” will take the top honor.

Odds in the prediction markets currently show that “One Battle After Another” is still ahead of “Sinners,” with the former priced in at 75% while the latter is priced at 23%.

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