Fans don't seem to care that you just promoted, and a 14-8 record is nothing spectacular. So the assessment of your performance this season is accurate.
Playoffs count as league and TV games, therefore your 1/2 star indicates the rating for being booted from the playoffs.
Given your early exit from the Cup, your final rating seems about spot-on. Whereas your season ticket holders are concerned, your losses will affect these over the course of the season. So you've lost potential ticket holders every time you lost a game.
As for merchandising, losing games will affect your merchandise sales. That's the sad truth, unfortunately.
And with all this being said, you're probably still making more money in II than you did in III last season.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."