ESPN doesn’t release Bronco-Jaguars viewership numbers

Denver Broncos v Jacksonville Jaguars - NFL London Games 2022 - Wembley Stadium
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On Sunday morning, the Broncos faced the Jaguars in London. The game was available only on ESPN+. On Tuesday, ESPN proclaimed that it was the most-viewed event ever on the subscription streaming service.

However, ESPN provided no numbers to back it up.

“On Sunday, the first-ever exclusive NFL game on ESPN+ — the Denver Broncos 21-17 comeback victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars from Wembley Stadium in London — became the most-viewed event ever on the industry-leading streaming service,” ESPN said in a statement.

It’s meaningless without the numbers. And if the numbers were good, it’s a no-brainer that ESPN would have announced the numbers.

Implicit in this reality is that, if Broncos-Jaguars was “the most-viewed event on the industry-leading streaming service,” no other events on ESPN+ have done much to brag about.

42 responses to “ESPN doesn’t release Bronco-Jaguars viewership numbers

  1. Just like everything else. Propaganda runs amok. It would be more shocking if they had remained silent. Of course, if they had we would have one less thing to mock at. Lol.

  2. Who even cared about the teams that were actually playing there anyway except the few hundred diehard fans from both of those horrible teams!

  3. LOL!

    But, but, but, but, the NFL is “making money hand over fist!”

    Goodell is like Stalin destroying files and rewriting history books to match what he wants the public to believe.

  4. A game that aired at 6:30 a.m. on the west coast on a channel most don’t have and that couldn’t be watched on delay or replay likely added up to viewership in the TV bowling or inflatable mattress infomercial range.

  5. Why would anyone pay the same for the rights to sunday ticket if the number of games they can’t show goes up and up.

  6. I don’t know what ESPN+’s subscription base is, but I know it’s a lot lower than Amazon Prime. I have it because they air a ton of NHL games (and it was bundled with Disney+ and Hulu), but they aren’t going to get the subscribers until they have enough content to make it worthwhile.

  7. It was on locally here in Denver. I bet that accounted for more than 90% of the games viewers on any platform.

  8. It’s bs that the NFL is selling games to a bunch of different streaming services especially when I already pay for Sunday Ticket and Season Tickets!! When will it end???

  9. touchback6 says:
    November 1, 2022 at 8:51 pm
    LOL!

    But, but, but, but, the NFL is “making money hand over fist!”

    Goodell is like Stalin destroying files and rewriting history books to match what he wants the public to believe.

    ===================

    A) The NFL is making historic amounts of money. That’s not in question and also not the subject of the article.

    B) ESPN paid the NFL to air that game so if anyone lost money it would be ESPN. They are the ones with the incentive to pump up the viewership.

  10. All these “ratings” seem to be garbage to me.
    I keep reading Thursday night ratings are up 48%. I say BS to this. How can ratings be up that much when it isn’t on free tv? What is next? Will they tell us more people watch Direct TV NFL package than games on CBS, FOX, NBC?

  11. I was happy there was a Sunday morning game. When I realized it was only
    On plus I became more detached. Cant stand the commanders anymore despite winning some. The nfl is really hurting itself.

  12. I would have watched part of thee game. I have no interest in these teams but if it wasn’t on ESPN+ then I would’ve turned it on to watch while I was coming amd going, doing things a around the house. NFL is missing out on a large market here.

  13. Jags need to find a new qb. Most overrated qb ever. Jags are just bottom feeders. Will never be more then a farm team for the other 31 teams in league.

  14. Everything Goodell touches turns into gold for the owners. Oh please, the NFL now is pretty much self sufficient. I can be commish and it still would make billions. It can survive on it’s on momentum along from past success not attributed to Goodell. What will screw it up is these types of ventures (Europe teams) and experiments (exclusive streaming)fans don’t have any desire for. I think he needs to focus on putting a better product on the field and what I mean by that is OFFICIATING. Use the technology avialable now to take the decision making out of the officials hands and call a cleaner game. I don’t mean hiring officials full time. That is NOT the problem. Too many calls now are more than subjective and ruining the game.

  15. Ahhhhh that’s why I couldn’t find it in basic cable…..good luck with your streaming ESPN and Prime.

  16. I consider myself to be a pretty big NFL fan. If my Cowboys aren’t playing I’ll watch any game on TV, and with Sunday Ticket I watch a lot of football (including the previous early morning NFL games in London). I had 0% interest in this game and when I saw it was being streamed on ESPN+ I made it a point not to watch. Sounds like many others did the same. Ratings had to be horrible lol

  17. teddyshore says:
    November 1, 2022 at 8:19 pm
    I doubt many watched that game, you know how hard it is to find ESPN+?

    ——————————————

    You type ESPN+ into Google and click the first link…

  18. I might watch but I have no idea where I would find ESPN+. Too much work to locate. I would rather do something else. I’ll wait for something I can find on my satellite.

  19. Proof Doubt Closer Theatre Company says:
    November 1, 2022 at 8:58 pm
    A game that aired at 6:30 a.m. on the west coast on a channel most don’t have….
    ________________

    ESPN+ is not a channel. It is a streaming service that everyone with the internet has access to.

  20. greekmusicblog says:
    November 1, 2022 at 9:13 pm
    All these “ratings” seem to be garbage to me.
    I keep reading Thursday night ratings are up 48%. I say BS to this. How can ratings be up that much when it isn’t on free tv?
    ______________

    There is no such thing as free TV.

    Ratings have always been a statistically accurate measure of viewership. People who doubt their accuracy lack knowledge of how statistical models are constructed.

  21. If it were available on the cable stations, I would have watched. “why are they watching? Cause it’s on tv… Not yet it isn’t.”

  22. In the good old days NFL football was only on Sunday at 1 and 4 EST and Monday night…that was it….and THAT was enough . We are turning the clock back now because no one is going to PAY for Thursday night football and overseas games. Thanks for nostalgia.

  23. If it was on regular ESPN or the NFL Network, I would’ve watched it alongside T.O.P.S.

  24. We have the Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ bundle, so I watched the game. I have no interest in the Broncos or Jags, but if football is on, I’ll watch it. But it’s a mistake to air football on ESPN+. Their interface is clunky and very few people subscribe to it anyway. In fact, I don’t subscribe to it anymore, having cancelled my subscription to the bundle this week.

    I won’t be subscribing to NFL+ next year, either. It’s another one with a terrible interface, and on top of that it’s glitchy. I can’t get Gamepass to work on my 2021 TV, even though it streams fine on my laptop. Ridiculous for an organization with all that money to put out such a poor product. People are willing to press a couple of buttons more than they have to to watch on a TV/cable/satellite channel, but if it’s more complicated or glitchy, you’re losing viewers.

  25. I have Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Netflix. Oh, and I’ve been tempted into Acorn TV through Amazon. But I don’t have ESPN+ and I won’t pay extra to watch the Jags vs. the Broncos. Those two teams don’t interest me at all though as a Fantasy player, I may have had guys in that game. It was one thing to force us into having a service that offered the NFL Network in order to see Thursday games. Now we are forced to have Amazon Prime Video for Thursday games. Now they are trying to lead us by the nose to ESPN+. Not me. I’m not interested at all in the “Disney Bundle.” I suspect they didn’t release the number of viewers on this game because it was not in their best interest to do so. If they had great numbers, you know they’d have bragged about them.

  26. I was annoyed paying to start a subscription I will never use again unless they carry more nfl games. It was only $10, but I subscribed and then unsubscribed. I’d be more than willing to keep it if they showed more nfl, but the nfl league is ridiculous in what they will allow.

  27. No one was waking up early for that game except Bronco and Jaguar fans. Not sure why anyone would reasonably expect anything else.

    “Most viewed event ever…” HAHAHA what?!? Did you expect this game to rival the Super Bowl because it took place in Europe? Could’ve been KC vs Buffalo and it wouldn’t have done great.

  28. It was a dog game, early in the morning, and nobody cared. I am a huge Broncos fan, living out of state, no way I was paying ESPN+ to watch this turkey. I did find it on internet radio. It was a nice experience to listen for a change.

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