Club America and Univision top the table last week, but the Premier League fills it out.
Highlights/Lowlights:
• Club America is the driver of Liga MX interest on Univision's Liga MX Saturdays. The club accounts for 4 of the top 5 broadcasts this year and all of the games that pulled over 1 million.
• Liga MX average on broadcast is 767k overall...1.03m Games with America 661k Games without America. Nearly a 40% difference.
• Premier League continues it hot start to the 2022/23 season. Manchester City vs Newcastle pulled a strong 774k on USA (followed by a huge Goal Zone number.
• Leeds, who are being led by a trio of Americans, pulled a pretty average "Chelsea Number" for their game against, well, Chelsea. The social media buzz around Leeds is very big, but so far that hasn't translated into eyeballs on the games.
• The Bundesliga match on ESPN was a bit lower than expected (145k). Their average between the two games on pay-tv is about 15% lower than MLS's average.
• Speaking of MLS, they had one game on ESPN and a couple on FS1. The marquee match between the Galaxy and Seattle pulled close to 300k. The doubleheader on FS1 was a dud.
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| US TV Viewership: Soccer Programs Aug 16-22 |
| | | |
| Viewers (000) | Event/Game | Network | Date |
| 1,027 | LIGA MX SAT: AMERICA / CRUZ AZUL | UNIVISION | 8/20 |
| 774 | NBC PREMIER LEAGUE: ARSENAL V B'MOUTH | NBC | 8/20 |
| 741 | PREMIER LEAGUE L: CITY/NEWCASTLE | USA | 8/21 |
| 582 | PREMIER LEAGUE GOAL ZONE | USA | 8/21 |
| 504 | PREMIER LEAGUE L: CHELSEA/LEEDS | USA | 8/21 |
| 468 | LIGA MX SAT: ATLAS / PUEBLA | UNIVISION | 8/20 |
| 418 | LIGA MX WED 2: PACHUCA / AMERICA | TUDN | 8/17 |
| 385 | PREMIER LEAGUE L: WOLVES/TOTTENHAM | USA | 8/20 |
| 379 | PREMIER LEAGUE L: SOUTHAMPTON/LEICESTER | USA | 8/20 |
| 364 | PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO | USA | 8/20 |
| 311 | PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO | USA | 8/20 |
| 309 | LIGA MX SAT 2: AMERICA / CRUZ AZUL | TUDN | 8/20 |
| 296 | MLS REGULAR SEASON L: LA GALAXY/SEATTLE | ESPN | 8/19 |
| 233 | LIGA MX L: PUEBLA / NECAXA | TUDN | 8/16 |
| 211 | LIGA MX WED: TOLUCA / MONTERREY | TUDN | 8/17 |
| 206 | LIGA MX SUN: PACHUCA / LEON | TUDN | 8/21 |
| 202 | PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO | USA | 8/20 |
| 185 | PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO | USA | 8/21 |
| 179 | LIGA MX L: ATLAS / FC JUAREZ | TUDN | 8/16 |
| 167 | LIGA MX SAT: ATLAS / PUEBLA | TUDN | 8/20 |
| 159 | LIGA MX: MONTERREY VS TIGRES | FOXD | 8/20 |
| 145 | GERMAN BUNDESLIGA L: DORTMUND/SV WERDER | ESPN | 8/20 |
| 145 | MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER L: COLUMBUS/ATLANTA | FS1 | 8/21 |
| 139 | MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER: SKC/PORTLAND | FS1 | 8/21 |
| 123 | LIGA MX L: QUERETARO / TIJUANA | TUDN | 8/20 |
| 123 | MLS WEATHER DELAY L | FS1 | 8/21 |
| 120 | LIGA MX L: PACHUCA / LEON | TUDN | 8/21 |
| 110 | LIGA MX: SANTOS VS LEON | FOXD | 8/18 |
| 99 | FIFA WOM U-20 WORLD CUP L:JAPAN/FRANCE | FS1 | 8/21 |
| 85 | MLS REGULAR SEASON L: LA GALAXY/SEATTLE | ESPND | 8/19 |
| 76 | INTL CHAMPIONS CUP L | ESPN2 | 8/20 |
| 75 | LIGA PREMIER: BOURNEMOUTH VS ARSENAL | UNIVERSO | 8/20 |
| 55 | UEFA CHAMPS PLAYOFFS: DYNAMO KYIV/BENFICA | TUDN | 8/17 |
| 43 | LIGUE 1 – L: LILLE VS. PARIS SAINT GERMAIN | BEIN ESP | 8/21 |
| 34 | LIGUE 1 – L: LILLE VS. PARIS SAINT GERMAIN | BEIN | 8/21 |
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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.
| 000s | Program - Broadcast | # | | 000s | Program - Pay TV | # |
| 964 | UEFA Champions League | 14 | | | | |
| 864 | Premier League | 12 | | | | |
| | | | 869 | World Cup Qualifier - C | 3 |
| | | | 866 | USMNT | 1 |
| 490 | La Liga | 2 | | | | |
| 486 | MLS - ABC | 9 | | | | |
| 484 | FA Women's Super Leag | 1 | | | | |
| 474 | Bundesliga | 2 | | | | |
| 438 | USWNT | 1 | | | | |
| 437 | MLS - FOX | 5 | | | | |
| | | | 434 | Premier League - Studio | 92 |
| 409 | NWSL | 4 | | | | |
| | | | 394 | CONCACAF Nations Lea | 1 |
| | | | 292 | World Cup Qual - UEFA | 4 |
| | | | 263 | USWNT | 3 |
| | | | 241 | EPL - Studio | 127 |
| | | | 240 | MLS - ESPN | 19 |
| | | | 229 | UEFA Women's Euro | 22 |
| | | | 206 | Bundesliga | 2 |
| | | | 195 | World Cup Qual - Playoff | 1 |
| | | | 194 | General Soccer | 11 |
| | | | 164 | UEFA Nations League | 16 |
| | | | 155 | Concacaf Champs Leag | 7 |
| | | | 148 | MLS - FS1 | 23 |
| | | | 133 | USL | 3 |
| | | | 118 | FIFA Club World Cup | 1 |
| | | | 115 | CONCACAF U20 | 3 |
| | | | 81 | Women's Copa America | 1 |
| | | | 35 | Ligue 1 | 4 |
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MAJOR LEEDS SOCCER
Images from last weekend's game were all over the MLS and US soccer Twitter-sphere over the weekend. Most of the influences in that bubble were tweeting about how well the domestic players were playing their excitable coach.
Interestingly, however, the game did not pull a viewership number that matched up with the buzz.
Why?
It's for the same reason MLS has a tough time - social interaction with the league has not matched viewership numbers for quite some time and it appears that that same issue has made its way to Leeds.
MLS fans are not soccer fans, first. They do not watch games as evidenced by TV ratings.
Protecting or showing support to MLS has almost turned into some sort of nationalistic or political signal. A "with us or against us" type approach... Defending the league means defending the American Way of doing things or perhaps even a way of tying to hold on to American Exceptionalism.
Don't like MLS? Well, you must be a "euro snob" or "pro/rel zealot." Not long ago, I was passively accused of racism and the town I live in was made fun of because it is poor - just because I didn't act the right way towards MLS TV ratings.
When you look at it that way, it's a bit unfair to MLS as they are just another soccer league and not some sort of avatar for anything. As a matter of fact, in recent years, some investor groups have started trying to detach MLS from some of these things because the online discourse gets pretty terrible.
MLS does not do well on TV and Leeds, who didn't have a breakout game vs. Chelsea, could be on the road and suffer the same fate. Liked by a rabid group more interested in discourse than actually watching them (or actually watching soccer, gasp!).
All of this highlights what many out there know, however. Fans of the PL are not the same as fans of MLS. Oil and water and the viewership numbers show it.
Will PL viewers pick up Leeds? I do expect more people to start tuning in to Leeds leading up to the World Cup this June. And perhaps after (if the US does well), but I don't think they will rise to the levels of Man United, City, Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool unless they play as well as them.
