US Soccer Cable Ratings, Nov 19-23

The popular leagues for US viewers were back in action last weekend and it's TUDN's Liga MX match Tigres v Toluca taking the top spot.

The MLS playoffs kicked off. This marks the long-awaited return to regular-ish national TV coverage for the league. Because of the format, the matchups were likely not what the league wanted. Minnesota United v Colorado pulled the best viewership 242k on ESPN for 9th best soccer show of the weekend.

Overall, the playoff game between Minnesota United and the Colorado Rapids is ranked 8th among all MLS games since the restart of sports in back in June. Behind that is Portland and Dallas at 16th best. Not a whole lot to write home about for the 2020 version of the MLS Playoffs.

Not on my list - Columbus Crew v NY Red Bulls and Orlando v NYCFC. Both were on UniMas and TUDN but were not rated in the top 150 cable shows the day they aired. World Soccer Talk has them at 216k and 184k (combined on UniMas and TUDN) respectively. I don't combine ratings and I only have access to the top 150 each day.

On traditional broadcast TV, the Premier League matchup of Manchester City and Tottenham pulled 875k viewers on NBC (Saturday).

US Cable Soccer programs Nov 19-23
Viewers (000)	Event/Game	Network	Date
543	LIGA MX L: REPETCHAJE: TIGRES / TOLUCA	TUDN	Nov 22, 20
477	PREMIER LEAGUE L: LEEDS/ARSENAL	NBCSN	Nov 22, 20
453	LIGA MX PLAYOFFS: WC:SANTOS VS PACHUCA	FOX DEP	Nov 21, 20
388	PREMIER LEAGUE L: LEICESTER/LIVERPOOL	NBCSN	Nov 22, 20
386	PREMIER LEAGUE L: BRIGHTON/ASTON VILLA	NBCSN	Nov 21, 20
361	LIGA MX PLAYOFFS: WC:MONTERREY VS PUEBLA	FOX DEP	Nov 22, 20
292	PREMIER LEAGUE L: SOUTHAMPTON/WOLVES	NBCSN	Nov 23, 20
291	PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO	NBCSN	Nov 21, 20
242	MLS PLAYOFFS: MINNESOTA/ RAPIDS	ESPN	Nov 22, 20
231	PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO	NBCSN	Nov 22, 20
223	MLS PLAYOFFS: PORTLAND TIMBERS/FC DALLAS	ESPN	Nov 22, 20
215	PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO	NBCSN	Nov 23, 20
203	PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO	NBCSN	Nov 22, 20
183	PREMIER LEAGUE L: CRYSTAL PALACE/BURNLEY	NBCSN	Nov 23, 20
164	MLS PLAYOFFS:  KANSAS CITY/SAN JOSE	FS1	Nov 22, 20
160	PREMIER LEAGUE GOAL ZONE	NBCSN	Nov 23, 20
129	MLS PLAYOFFS: NASHVILLE/MIAMI	ESPN2	Nov 20, 20
116	LIGA PREMIER: TOTTENHAM VS MAN CITY	UNIVERSO	Nov 21, 20
108	MLS PLAYOFFS: NEW ENGLAND/MONTREAL	FS1	Nov 20, 20
107	PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO	NBCSN	Nov 21, 20
98	PREMIER LEAGUE GOAL ZONE	NBCSN	Nov 22, 20

Cable Soccer Ratings, Nov 6-11

Relatively light soccer on cable week. No doubt, since these are US viewers, the prolonged election news coverage impacts this. That said, Liga MX is in full stride on TUDN (in about half the homes of ESPN, FS1, NBCSN). 

On network TV, the Premier League NBC game last Saturday did well with nearly 900k viewers, while the MLS game on ABC on Sunday disappointed again by not topping 400k. MLS had three Sundays in a row on ABC and they couldn't seem to build interest as their regular season wrapped up.

US Cable Soccer programs Nov 6 - Nov 11
Viewers (000)	Event/Game	Network	Date
420	LIGA MX FRI: FC JUAREZ / AMERICA	TUDN	Nov 6, 20
394	LIGA MX SAT 2: CRUZ AZUL / UNAM	TUDN	Nov 7, 20
329	PREMIER LEAGUE L: LEEDS/CRYSTAL PALACE	NBCSN	Nov 7, 20
329	PREMIER LEAGUE L: MAN UNITED/EVERTON	NBCSN	Nov 7, 20
304	PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO	NBCSN	Nov 7, 20
282	PREMIER LEAGUE L: WOLVES/LEICESTER	NBCSN	Nov 8, 20
245	PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO	NBCSN	Nov 8, 20
210	LIGA MX SAT: TIGRES / ATLAS	TUDN	Nov 7, 20
197	LIGA MX L: PUEBLA FC / CLUB ATLETICO	TUDN	Nov 6, 20
168	PREMIER LEAGUE L	NBCSN	Nov 8, 20
164	LIGA MX: SANTOS VS MAZATLAN	FOX DEP	Nov 8, 20
103	LIGA MX SUN: TOLUCA / LEON	TUDN	Nov 8, 20
84	LIGA MX L: QUERETARO / TIJUANA	TUDN	Nov 8, 20
81	LIGA MX L: PACHUCA / NECAXA	TUDN	Nov 7, 20
57	LIGA MX PREVIA	FOX DEP	Nov 8, 20

TUDN Viewers: MLS to LigaMX

It's worth taking a look at TUDN TV viewership numbers since MLS is Back started because of the continued relationship MLS and LigaMX are forging. 

TUDN is described as an American Spanish language sports channel owned by Univision Communications. It has somewhere around 39 million subscribers in the US (for comparison, ESPN has around 85 million). During the pandemic, the only shows popping up in the top 150 cable shows for that day are soccer-related. Outside of "Lina de Cuatro Especial" the top 15 programs since MLS is Back started are live games (13 LigaMX, 1 MLS). 

THE TAKEAWAY

TUDN viewers tuned in to MLS right up until LigaMX games started. After that, it was a sharp drop into nothingness for MLS. Zero games (6) registered in the top 150 cable shows after the Mexican league started back up.

 

TUDN: MLS to LigaMX
Infogram

As you would expect, actual viewership numbers a much lower on TUDN due to the level of subs. What I tried to illustrate in the chart above was the immediate swap that happened from MLS to LigaMX.

If you hover over the chart, you'll get the actual figures. Roughly speaking, the are what you might expect in relationship to ESPN numbers (half).

It's interesting to me that TUDN viewers had zero interest in returning to MLS once LigaMX restarted. It's almost as if sports fans have a metaphorical cup that they fill with their own personal sports time. For TUDN viewers, that means that there's just no room for MLS.