Wednesday, November 4, 2015

MLS TV Ratings Flat in Playoffs

During a week where FOX announces a record-shattering 16 billion minutes consumed online, a regular season NFL game pulling 29.4 million viewers and even the Breeders Cup locking down 4.6 million (a 20 year record) - MLS playoffs on ESPN and FS1 see no improvement in viewership in their Sunday afternoon / evening slots.

There was a lot of soccer happening on Sunday, November 1st. Here is the breakdown of what people watched here in the United States.

1. USA - EPL: BOURNEMOUTH / SOUTHAMPTON (416k)
2. NBCSN - EPL: SUNDERLAND / EVERTON (395)
3. UDN - LMX: TOLUCA / AMERICA (386)
4. UDN - LMX: GUADALAJARA / PACHUCA (348)
5. ESPN - MLS: PORTLAND TIMBERS/VANCOUVER WHITECAPS (249)
6. FS1 - MLS: SEATTLE SOUNDERS / FC DALLAS (220)
7. ESPN - MLS: D.C. UNITED / NY RED BULLS (219)
8. FS1 - MLS: MONTREAL IMPACT / COLUMBUS CREW (136)

Despite being on channels with less distribution, a weak EPL clash on NBCSN match and two Liga MX games on UDN beat out MLS programming on ESPN and FS1.

ESPN boasts an industry-leading 92 million homes and likes to promote "flagship" programming across their family of networks like ESPN2 and ESPNU. UDN, on the other hand, has less than half the subscribers, but Liga MX beat out MLS by nearly +50%.

Perhaps even more damning for MLS on ESPN is that the league is regularly the least watched programming on the network each Sunday. Here is Nov. 1st, listed most watched to least...

Program, Start Time - Viewers
NFL COUNTDOWN, 11:00 AM - 1122k
SPORTSCENTER WEEKEND, 8:00 AM - 884
SPORTSCENTER WEEKEND, 9:00 AM - 862
SPORTSCENTER WEEKEND, 7:00 AM - 784
NFL INSIDERS: SUNDAY, 10:00 AM - 748
SPORTSCENTER, 12:37 AM - 638
NFL MATCHDAY, 6:30 AM - 530
COLLEGE FOOTBALL REPEAT, 6:00 AM - 480
SPORTSCENTER EARLY, 7:30 PM - 455
SPORTSCENTER LATE, 11:00 PM - 455
POKER, 10:00 PM - 383
CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVE, 1:00 PM - 374
POKER, 8:30 PM - 354
COLL FTBL SCOREBOARD, 1:30 PM - 280
MLS PLAYOFFS, 5:10 PM - 249
MLS PLAYOFFS, 3:00 PM - 219
CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVE, 2:30 PM - 200

One thing I'm learning about MLS on TV after tracking it all season is that there seems to be a faithful following of about 200-250k fans that will follow it to any network. FS1, ESPN, ESPN2 or UDN. I'm not sure you can call that a positive because the league doesn't attack the rest of the soccer watching public in the country.

By this point, it's widely known that NBCSN Premier League games regularly get above 500k each Saturday and Sunday. Bundesliga matches, the new product on the US TV soccer block, were out slow out of the gates this year, but their figures are already in MLS range on Fox Sports.

Many (many) words have been written on this site about ways to improve MLS and why the larger soccer loving public does not watch, so no need to go over the list. We are 20 years in on this MLS thing and the league has gained zero ground on the competition.

You don't need to be an industry insider to know that live sports programming is the most valuable property in television right now. MLS needs to make hay or it will risk falling hard when the inevitable "sports bubble" bursts (and it will).

[Facts, Figures via www.sportstvratings.com]

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Final note here is a lesson in narratives - Fox is starting to regularly report streaming viewership numbers. Turns out baseball isn't dead, or even dying (as you have been told since 1994). As a matter of fact, it is leading the way into the future of sports consumption. Imagine that. Here's a picture of the 800k fans showed up to World Series champions parade in KC.



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