NFL player protests over the past couple of seasons have divided fans - which is bad news for broadcasters. Credit:AP Ratings are down sharply, for various reasons, and the three games on Thanksgiving this Thursday in the US (typically among the highest rated games of the year) offer a chance to break out of the slump. Media meltdown The NFL's malaise is just one example of how the media industry in the world's biggest economy is in a state of complete and utter upheaval. Consider what has happened in the past couple of weeks alone:

Rupert Murdoch has been linked with the sale of entertainment businesses he has spent years building up;

The US Justice Department has (perhaps due to influence from the White House, or perhaps not) sued to block an $US80 billion deal involving the sale of CNN (the 24-hour news network has been squabbling with the President); and

The Trump administration has thrown out "net neutrality" rules governing the internet Each of these developments could merit a column in its own right. The changing viewing habits of millennials are a concern for networks and sporting codes around the world. But the NFL's predicament arguably has the most cultural significance, and relevance to Australia – another sport-obsessed nation, where leagues are competing ferociously for eyeballs and media companies are struggling. This week, JPMorgan analyst Alexia Quadrani estimated that ratings in total are down 7 per cent this season compared to last year. And Credit Suisse sliced 5 per cent from its earnings forecasts for CBS – the freshly minted owner of Australia's Ten Network – citing the NFL's ratings slump.

Debate is raging in America about the effects of concussion. Credit:AP The worrying thing for the NFL is, ratings were also down last year, a phenomenon blamed on the presidential election. The numbers picked up after the vote was out of the way, about this time a year ago. Whether that will occur again this year is the key question. What is really happening The NFL has been submerged by unprecedented political controversy this season, with a player protest against police brutality and racism being latched on to (many would say exploited) by the Trump administration, ultimately dividing viewers.

An absurd number of injuries to star players, and off-field controversies including a war between the commissioner and the league's most visible owner over a player suspension (due to domestic violence allegations) haven't helped either. Yet, arguably a much bigger driver of the ratings decline is changes to consumer behaviour that look to have permanently altered the economics of television. Consumers in the US are abandoning pay TV in droves (or, in the case of younger consumers, never subscribing in the first place) in favour of cheaper internet services such as Netflix. According to at least one estimate, 22 million Americans will cut the cable cord by this year.

Many NFL games are on free-to-air television in the US, but historically most Americans get their television from cable, satellite and telco companies (pay TV penetration rates in the US still stands at nearly 80 per cent, much higher than in Australia). So, it appears some consumers are abandoning linear TV (viewing TV at set times) altogether. Rich Greenfield, a widely followed analyst at BTIG in New York notes that "linear non-sports ratings are down far more" than the NFL. But live sport is one of the few things legacy media has left in its war with internet rivals. If even that can't get people to tune in, then television as we know it has a very serious problem.

Lessons for Australia To be sure, many of the NFL's woes are specific to the league and to America. But our own sporting bodies, which have shown a tendency to mimic aspects of the NFL over the years, will still no doubt be paying close attention. The NFL has failed to embrace the internet to the extent that its rivals have (taking a heavy-handed approach to sharing of clips on social media, for example). Games have arguably become long for easily distracted millennial audiences. Concerns about safety and mounting evidence of lasting damage to the brains of participants has turned off viewers away, and decimated participation at youth levels.

All of these issues (some of which echo issues faced by leagues in Australia) could have been dealt with more swiftly and effectively. At the very least, the NFL's struggles are a lesson that complacency can breed failure. Not that long ago, the NFL looked unassailable as America's most popular sporting league. Now many believe it will soon be surpassed by the NBA – that it may even disappear. Maybe it's time our own sports stopped slavishly copying it.