Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Soccer Viewership: JUL 19-25

Saturday night Liga MX tops the chart along with a busy week of European friendlies.

Highlights/Lowlights:

• The biggest clubs in the world were in the region last week to make some cash and get in shape. Man City, Real Madrid, United, Bayern, and Juventus were all here playing themselves or Mexican sides.

• Liga MX's Saturday night matches on broadcast TV (Univision) are proving to be the events of the week now that ShowBuzzDaily is providing that information. That said, these numbers are not as high as I, or many out there, originally thought. Most popular league in the USA? The Premier League has caught them.

2022 YTD averages
874k PL on NBC
690k Liga MX on Univision

• Speaking of the Premier League, they start up next weekend. Get your English Breakfast ready.

• Women's UEFA is down to the last two matches and they are about to finish the tournament close to an average of 200k (if the last two can top 325k or so). On average, they are already the third most watched soccer event/program of 2022 on ESPN2.

000s - Event
727 World Cup Qualifier - Concacaf
306 USMNT - Friendly
185 UEFA Women's Euro
166 World Cup Qualifier - UEFA
146 Major League Soccer
60 United Soccer League

MLS is highlighted below because they only had one national game on TV last week and it performed poorly. The 129k on FS1 puts MLS -20% down from 2021 and -8% off 2020.

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US TV Viewership: Soccer Programs July 19 - 25
Viewers (000)Event/GameNetworkDate
718LIGA MX SAT 2: TIGRES V ATLASUNIVISION7/23
560LIGA MX SAT: CRUZ AZUL V PUEBLAUNIVISION7/23
503PARTIDO AMISTOSO L: MAN CITY/ AMERICATUDN7/20
440SOCCER CHAMPIONS TOUR: REAL VS BARCAFOXD7/23
326UEFA WOMENS EURO L: ENGLAND/SPAINESPN27/20
317INTL SOCCER FRIENDLY: UNITED V BAYERNESPN7/23
316UEFA WOMENS EURO L: FRANCE/NETHERLANDSESPN27/23
245UEFA WOMENS EURO L: SWEDEN/BELGIUMESPN27/22
244LIGA MX SUN: PACHUCA/ UNAMTUDN7/24
226UEFA WOMENS EURO L: GERMANY/AUSTRIAESPN27/21
220PARTIDO AMISTOSO L: INTER MIAMI/BARCATUDN7/19
217INTERNATIONAL SOCCER: MAN CITY V AMERICAESPN27/20
176LIGA MX L: NECAXA / FC JUAREZTUDN7/22
173SOCCER CHAMPIONS TOUR L: REAL/BARCAFS27/23
169LIGA MX SAT 2: TIGRES UANL/ ATLASTUDN7/23
168LIGA MX SAT: CRUZ AZUL / PUEBLATUDN7/23
150SOCCER CHAMPIONS TOUR: JUVENTUS V CHIVASFOXD7/22
148LIGA MX L: MAZATALAN / ATLETICO SAN LUISTUDN7/22
129MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER L: GALAXY/ATLANTAFS17/24
105FUTBOL CENTRAL LTUDN7/20
99FUT-EST-CHIVA-W-TEL-UNVSO: GUADA VS LEONUNIVERSO7/20
90UEFA WOMEN EURO CUP L: FRANCIA/ HOLANDATUDN7/23
69INTL SOCCER FRIENDLY   LESPND7/23
68FUTBOL CENTRAL LTUDN7/24
66MISION EUROPA LTUDN7/23
54ESPN FOOTBALL CENTER   LESPND7/23

sources: showbuzzdaily, spoilertv, helltown (analysis)

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Leaderboards for Eng-lang viewership YTD. Pay-TV includes live streaming services such as YouTubeTV and Hulu.

000sProgram - Broadcast#000sProgram - Pay TV#
964UEFA Champions League14
874Premier League10
869World Cup Qualifier - C3
581USMNT2
484FA Women's Super Leag1
465MLS - ABC7
438USWNT1
437MLS - FOX5
434Bundesliga1
423Premier League81
409NWSL4
396La Liga1
394CONCACAF Nations Lea1
292World Cup Qual - UEFA4
266Bundesliga1
239USWNT3
237MLS - ESPN18
231EPL - Studio110
195World Cup Qual - Playoff1
188UEFA Women's Euro19
164UEFA Nations League16
156General Soccer10
155Concacaf Champions Leag7
149MLS - FS118
133USL3
118FIFA Club World Cup1
115CONCACAF U203
37Ligue 12

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Questions or data requests - ljbaby654 (at) gmail

Thursday, July 21, 2022

Forbes: ESPN, FOX offering MLS a Deal

Jabari Young reported earlier today that ESPN and FOX are offering MLS $10 million and $7 million dollars a year, respectively, for four years. It was stated in the piece that the number of games each year would remain relatively the same as the previous deal.

My estimate on the previous MLS deal with ESPN and FOX was for a total of around $50 million per season ($90m - $25 to US Soccer - $15m from Univision = $50m) so this is a significant (near) 70% drop. What this tells us is that in 2014 networks gave MLS eight years to grow into that $50m a year, but fell well sort of expectations.

For MLS to have fulfilled its promise to ESPN and FOX they would have had to have TV viewership numbers averaging around 450k on ESPN and 300k on FOX (+70% above current numbers).

WHY IS SOMEBODY LEAKING?

Probably to move things along. Obviously, MLS didn't say "YES" to the figures so the networks went public. Sometimes this is to embarrass one party or another, but I think in this case it is just to get MLS moving. It was reported not long ago that ESPN did not even bid on MLS, so I imagine they just want it done.

SPANISH LANGUAGE?

Jabari's piece mentions that Univision is still out there and I'm sure they are, but they were the first network MLS went to go negotiate with (likely) because they wanted a big Spanish Language partner for their new Leagues Cup. It didn't happen. I am a bit surprised nothing has been done there. It makes me wonder if something is in the oven for English Language rights / partners for Liga MX.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR MLS

MLS has a boatload of things to sort out because they are building their TV production from the ground up. A complaint from MLS fans in the past has been the production value that networks provide and the fact that the league isn't promoted there. Well, that changes next season. It'll be up to Apple to get the word out and make the action on the pitch look good because, without exclusivity, ESPN and FOX will not be helping much.

This offer from linear networks is something Apple and MLS know is a necessity as a move to streaming only makes the league invisible. Of course streaming in some form is the future of TV, but for the foreseeable future, linear networks are the lifeblood of live events - that includes news, remember CNN+? I believe sports might have a similar fate if they are not careful in doing this.

FINAL THOUGHT

MLS sidestepped a bunch of problems by jumping to a streaming network as a primary broadcast partner, but it also created a whole bunch of new challenges because the trail they are on leads to the wild west of steaming-only sports of which there really hasn't ever been a breakout star.

I consider this to be a reboot of sorts for MLS's television product. It's a risk for the league and one I don't think they really wanted to make, but it's where they are. They are learning that you can't just say you are the "next big thing..." you have to prove it.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Soccer Viewership: JUL 12-18

 Liga MX's Saturday night soccer continues to top my weekly ratings. 

Highlights/Lowlights:

• The Chelsea v Club America exhibition didn't pull quite as much as a Liga MX would on Univision. Still, it landed second this week.

• The MLS big ABC match fell a bit flat (-20%/100k off this year's average on ABC). Neither Atlanta nor Orlando provide anything interesting outside of fans close to MLS.

• Women's EURO is moving along well. They are back up over 160k as far as average viewership. With the knockouts still to come, the tournament may still hit my projection of 200-300k.

• MLS on ESPN hit their 2022 avgs this week but they were virtually non-existent on Span-lang simulcasts. 

YOY Pay-TV
+1% Liga MX on TUDN (+4 over 2020)
-19% MLS on FS1 (-7 vs 2020)
-24% MLS on ESPN (flat vs 2020)

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US TV Viewership: Soccer Programs July 12-18
Viewers (000)Event/GameNetworkDate
664LIGA MX EF SAT: ATLAS V CRUZ AZULUNI7/16
482FUTBOL CENTRAL: CHELSEA V AMERICAUNI7/16
376MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER: ATLANTA V ORLANDOABC7/17
283MLS REGULAR SEASON: NYRB V NYCESPN7/17
250UEFA WOMENS EURO: SWITZER/NETHERLANDSESPN7/17
241LIGA MX SUN: TIGRES UANL/ TIJUANATUDN7/17
237LIGA MX EF SAT: ATLAS/ CRUZ AZULTUDN7/16
215MLS REGULAR SEASON L: MINNESOTA/SKCESPN7/13
210UEFA WOMENS EURO L: GERMANY/SPAINESPN27/12
209UEFA WOMENS EURO L: ITALY/BELGIUMESPN27/18
187UEFA WOMENS EURO: NETHERLANDS/PORTUGALESPN27/13
171CONCACAF WOMENS CHAMPS L: USA/ CANADATUDN7/18
167LIGA MX L: CLUB ATLETICO/ MONTERREYTUDN7/17
161LIGA MX L: PUEBLA / LEONTUDN7/15
144UEFA WOMENS EURO L: SWEDEN/SWITZERLANDESPN27/13
143MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER L: CREW/CINCINNATIFS17/17
143UEFA WOMENS EURO L: DENMARK/SPAINESPN27/16
125UEFA WOMENS EURO L: AUSTRIA/NORWAYESPN27/15
99LIGA MX: JUAREZ VS QUERETAROFOXD7/15
95FUTBOL CENTRAL LTUDN7/17
95UEFA WOMENS EURO L: ITALY/ICELANDESPN27/14
90UEFA WOMEN EURO CUP L: DINARMARCA/ESPANATUDN7/16
65MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER TUE: AUSTIN/HOUSTONTUDN7/12
55FUTBOL CENTRAL PT SATTUDN7/16
29FUTBOL PICANTEESPND7/17

sources: showbuzzdaily, spoilertv, helltown (analysis)

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Leaderboards for Eng-lang viewership YTD. Pay-TV includes live streaming services such as YouTubeTV and Hulu.

000sProgram - Broadcast#000sProgram - Pay TV#
964UEFA Champions League14
874Premier League10
869World Cup Qualifier - C3
581USMNT2
484FA Women's Super Leag1
465MLS - ABC7
438USWNT1
437MLS - FOX4
434Bundesliga1
423Premier League81
409NWSL4
396La Liga1
394CONCACAF Nations Lea1
292World Cup Qual - UEFA4
266Bundesliga1
239USWNT4
237MLS - ESPN18
231EPL - Studio110
195World Cup Qualifier - PO1
165UEFA Women's Euro15
164UEFA Nations League16
156General Soccer10
155Concacaf Champions Leag7
149MLS - FS117
133USL3
118FIFA Club World Cup1
115CONCACAF U203
37Ligue 12

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Thank you for reading. Any questions email: ljbaby654 (at) gmail.