NEW YORK — The National Football League is continuing a steady decline in audience. The fourth week of games had the smallest audience of the year on a weekend that some conservatives had called for a boycott because some players used the national anthem to protest against police treatment of minorities.
The Nielsen company said Tuesday that last weekend’s nationally televised games averaged 13.8 million viewers, down from 14.8 million viewers the week before.
Fox News Channel personality Sean Hannity was among the people calling for the boycott. It’s virtually impossible to tell what kind of impact it had, considering that viewership had been going down before that.
One of the NFL’s largest advertisers is taking feedback from consumers about recent national anthem protests, but stands by its sponsorship of the league.
Anheuser-Busch is giving callers to its consumer hotline the automated option of leaving feedback about its NFL corporate sponsorship. It started doing so on Monday.
The company signed a six-year deal with the NFL in 2015.
Anheuser-Busch spokesman Matt Kohan said the company supports the military and employs 1,100 veterans but also believes “in the power of sport to bring people together and overcome their differences.”
He said the company has no plans to end its NFL sponsorship.
