Wednesday, April 13, 2022

TV Soccer Viewership: APR 4-11

Last week saw 38 different soccer games/events on TV. Let's take a look at the highlights and the lowlights.

Notes:

• The USA Network posts a record for the Premier League on cable. It also managed to top a full slate of broadcast tv games from the Champions League, US Women, and MLS.

The PL is up +12% over last year on cable TV (flat over 2020).

• Liga MX is +2% vs last year on TUDN. Worth noting that they are down 20% from 2020.

MLS is down 30-50% across the board. In fact, they've almost lost more viewers this year than they average in people watching (wrap you head around that) >>> FOX is down -107k avg 4 games... ESPN down -206k, 4 gms... FS1 down -68k, 6 gms.

• The UEFA Champions league is settling in at around 700-800k range. The City v Atletico match averaged a bit less than the rest. Around 20% of the total viewership number (combined) comes from Span-lang (TUDN) and pushes these matches up to around 1.0m viewers.

• Not big on US Soccer bringing in teams like Uzbekistan just to pummel them. Maybe in the future, they can split up teams or do week-long combined training events to grow the sport. Anything besides inviting teams to come to play only to kick the crap out of them on national television.

• The USWNT on big FOX means that MLS is pushed down yet again by another soccer event on broadcast TV. The Prem, Champions League, NWSL, and now the USWNT top MLS on traditional broadcast television (table at the bottom of page).

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US Cable Viewership: Soccer Programs Apr 5-11
Viewers (000)Event/GameNetworkDate
1,088PREMIER LEAGUE L: LIVERPOOL/MAN CITYUSA4/10
850UEFA CHAMP LEAGUE-QTRS: CHELSEA VS REALCBS4/6
750NBC PREMIER LEAGUE: TOTTENHAM AT VILLANBC4/9
658UEFA CHAMP LEAGUE-QTRS: MAN CITY V ATLETICOCBS4/5
539PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIOUSA4/10
477MLS SOCCER: LA GALAXY VS LAFCFOX4/9
450MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER: CHARLOTTE V ATLANTAABC4/10
438WOMEN'S INT'L FRIENDLY: USA VS UZBEKISTANFOX4/9
407PREMIER LEAGUE L: CHELSEA/SOUTHAMPTONUSA4/9
391LIGA MX SAT 2: AMERICA / JUAREZTUDN4/9
334PREMIER LEAGUE L: MAN UNITED/EVERTONUSA4/9
328LIGA MX SAT: TOLUCA / CHIVASTUDN4/9
321PREMIER LEAGUE GOAL ZONEUSA4/10
315PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIOUSA4/9
296PREMIER LEAGUE L: BURNLEY/NORWICHUSA4/10
283CONCACAF CHAMP LEAG TUE: UNAM/CRUZ AZULTUDN4/5
268PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIOUSA4/9
252MLS REGULAR SEASON: MIAMI/NEW ENGLANDESPN4/9
237LIGA MX FRI 2: MAZATLAN / CRUZ AZULTUDN4/8
234UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE 1: QF: FRANKFURT BARCATUDN4/7
233PREMIER LEAGUE L: WOLVES/NEWCASTLEUSA4/8
226LIGA MX L: ATLAS / NECAXATUDN4/7
212LIGA MX L: QUERETARO / TIGRESTUDN4/10
201UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: QF: CHELSEA/ REALTUDN4/6
194LIGA MX L: CLUB ATLETICO SAN LUIS / LEONTUDN4/9
184LIGA MX FRI: PUEBLA VS UNAMTUDN4/8
173LIGA MX L: PACHUCA / TIGRES UANLTUDN4/7
170LIGA MX L: PACHUCA / TIJUANATUDN4/11
161UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: MAN CITY/ATLETICOTUDN4/5
152CONCACAF LC – L: SF: SEATTLE/NYCFCTUDN4/6
151CONCACAF CHAMP LEAGUE:SEATTLE/NYCFCFS14/6
146MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER: LA GALAXY VS LAFCFOX DEP4/9
135LIGA MX L: TOLUCA / MONTERREYTUDN4/6
135PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIOUSA4/10
116FUTBOL CENTRAL LTUDN4/6
110PREMIER LEAGUE GOAL ZONEUSA4/8
106MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER L: AUSTIN/MINNESOTAFS14/10
98UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE: RB LEIPZIG / ATALANATATUDN4/7

sources: showbuzzdaily, spoilertv, helltown

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Soccer avgs on TV (Eng-lan). Broadcast events are labeled.

000s : Program/event
941 : Premier League - Broadcast
869 : World Cup Qualifier - Concacaf
776 : UEFA Champions League - Broadcast
484 : FA Women's Super League
456 : NWSL - Broadcast
438 : USWNT - Broadcast
437 : MLS - Broadcast
323 : Premier League
295 : USMNT
215 : USWNT
180 : General Soccer
168 : MLS
158 : World Cup Qualifier - UEFA
123 : Concacaf Champions League
118 : FIFA Club World Cup
38 : Ligue 1

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ESPN AND MLS ON SUDAY

Chris Kessell asked if I could pull the average viewership by the hour for ESPN on Sundays to compare it to how MLS does in those hours. 

MLS has played 17 times on ESPN on Sunday since the beginning of 2021.

So, what I did was take a snapshot by the hour of how ESPN does without MLS programming (in blue) and then put what MLS averages right beside it (in orange). 







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