The ARD sports show had to accept a drastic slump in viewer numbers in the past Bundesliga season.
On average, 3.909 million people watched the summaries.
That is around 17 percent less than in the previous season.
"Of course, the loss of almost 900,000 viewers on average worries us," said ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky of the German Press Agency.
He pointed to "a very diverse range of reasons for the decline."
He counts fewer TV viewers overall “than in the main Corona period”, lack of tension and the appointments.
"On more than a quarter of all matchdays there were only four current matches on Saturday at 3.30 p.m. and on the 26th matchday only three," explained Balkausky.
According to the sports director of the public broadcaster, he is “not sure whether Saturday is and will remain a core match day in the fans’ minds.
We will talk about this with the DFL, with whom we are always in a constructive dialogue."
There was also a significant decline in the current sports studio.
On average, 1.78 million people watched the ZDF classic on Saturday evening, after 2.01 million in the previous season.
"Empty spectator stands due to the pandemic and a lack of excitement in the championship fight do not increase the attractiveness of the Bundesliga - and that is also reflected in the number of viewers," said ZDF sports director Thomas Fuhrmann.
"The return of traditional teams like Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen will definitely help the league."
The figures for the past season in the second Bundesliga are a clue.
There was an increase in viewers.
On the pay-TV channel Sky, the average number of live broadcasts increased by 54 percent to 1.81 million people per match day.
In the Bundesliga, on the other hand, this value fell by 16 percent to 2.82 million.
Sky sports director Charly Classen registered "an unprecedented interest" in the second division: "This is of course due to the appeal of the traditional clubs, but also to the exciting fight for promotion." In addition to the conference, Sky customers were particularly popular the live games of FC Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen.
The two crowd favorites will play in the Bundesliga again next season.
There were also more viewers in the Sunday edition of the sports show thanks to the attractive second division.
The ARD classic came to an average of 1.945 million after 1.652 million in the previous season.
"Tension in the league has an impact on viewer acceptance, you could see that in the second Bundesliga," commented ARD sports coordinator Balkausky.
"Of course we are also happy that with Schalke and Werder clubs with strong fans have again been promoted to the first division, because that can also lead to an increase in acceptance in the coming season."
Sport1, on the other hand, will miss the crowd favorites.
An average of 460,000 viewers watched the second division game on Saturday evening, which was added to the program as a result of the current media contract.
"Saturday evening has thus established itself as a slot for the new top game on free TV," said the broadcaster.
The streaming platform DAZN, which broadcasts the Bundesliga on Friday and Sunday for a fee, does not publish any specific viewer numbers.
In the season finale in the coming days, ARD will again have a large number of viewers.
Freiburg and Leipzig play in the DFB Cup final on Saturday evening.
Sky also broadcasts.
The games of the Bundesliga relegation between Hertha BSC and Hamburger SV as well as 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Dynamo Dresden in the second division relegation show Sat.1 and Sky.