So the average was 541,000 but almost 2.5 million tuned in to catch some or all of the match? If I'm reading that correctly, that's great. I would imagine that the average can only increase when the Montreal meets Toronto.
I doubt the USA broadcasts of the Dallas/NYRB and Portland/Union even get half of 500K viewers. The Portland/Union game should get higher though, even if both games were on NBC.
Previous highest rated MLS match was 289k for last yr's opener between Van-TO. I would attribute this yr's 541k to Quebec as usual getting too excited about new and shiny things. Game was also on when the Canadiens normally play on Saturday night on RDS (but were playing at 10 in Vancouver) which probably accounts for some of the 2.5 million tuning in at some point. And 730pm Ottawa hockey game was going to be joined in progress by RDS at 8 which again accounts for that high 2.5 million figure. TSN also had a good lead into the match and out of the match as it was bookended by the Brier (curling) playoff matches.
Is soccer more popular in Canada than in the States? it seems to me that the canadian teams are better supported and have pretty good ratings/viewers for such small country. 500k viewers in a 35 million country is pretty good kudos to you.
You really think that curling and soccer share any of the same demo? I doubt it. I'm guessing it is because TSN knows how to market a TV property. They did it with the World Juniors, then again with the CFL and hopefully are doing it with MLS in Canada. The huge reason I think that is because almost as many people outside of Quebec watched the first match as last year nationwide. The Quebec numbers were a very happy bonus. Canada uses a different rating system (it's a portable pager instead of a box stuck at home) that more accurately rates what is being watched. Basically it includes people that go to bars to watch sports. Sports viewership in Canada basically got a 25% boost in rating when the BBM system went into place.
certainly leaves room for improvement and audience growth across the season. but it could be noted that the MLS game had by far the highest persons rating projection in the key demo of males 18-34. and there were 7 other programs on NBCSN that day that had lower persons average audiences. (although, comparing average audience for a shorter -- 30 or 60 minute -- packaged program to a live sporting event of over 2 hours is not exactly an apples to apples comparison. generally speaking, shorter programs can more easily sustain an average audience size. what are NBCSN's weekend afternoon -- if those exist -- NHL telecasts averaging in 2012?)
Re: MLS & NBC Sports have agreed on a 3-year deal RT @tvsportsratings: MLS (NY/DAL) on NBCS Sun=82k viewers. 9 hunting/fishing telecasts on channel that day had larger audience. Oops.
I had a hell of time finding the channel on Direct TV and I'm a huge soccer fan. The channel isn't something that most casual fans will just stumble upon.
I dont believe anything that rating system reveals. It's a shame TV relies on it as the final answer. But, whatever, let the companies dump money into it, it's not mine to waste.
Re: MLS & NBC Sports have agreed on a 3-year deal I wouldn't panic just yet no matter what. It takes time to build this, as NBC is going to discover (NBC's Jon Miller said in Tannenwald's blog today that "the early overnights were terrific," maybe their expectations were lower). Men's outdoor league soccer in this country has never ever done boffo TV ratings and that's not going to change overnight just because you go to a new network that does a lot of promotion on it and treats it like a proper sport. NBCSN has been having problems getting viewers overall since the re-brand, but it's only been rebranded for 74 days or something. I think HUT levels go down a bit on Saturday nights, so we'll see what happens going forward. After Sunday's game in Philadelphia, they have two Friday nights and a Saturday night in the next three (unfortunately, two of the three are West Coast games).
hmm....that's actually a little higher than I thought it would get, I was thinking more around 60-75K. The portland game will probably get 150-200K. The game was NYRB vs Dallas. The local ratings for NY were horrible as usual. And I don't really expect Dallas to help out much either. Really, it can't get lower than 82K. It can only go up. I doubt this would have gotten more than 50K on FSC. I think as more people become aware than MLS is on NBC, the ratings will go up a bit. I'd argue LA and NY have some of the worst ratings in the league considering the size of their population.
It could also go down. (although at this very low level of audience size being reported, I do think it is fair for some to question the precision of Nielsen's measurement and audience estimating processes.) The next two MLS telecasts on NBCSN are on Sun March 18, and Friday March 23 -- both going up against NCAA March Madness basketball time slots. (although the first game on March 11 did face some Conference Championship basketball games. But there certainly is room for improvement, and it will be interesting to keep an eye on how the season unfolds, and how/if the MLS content is able to piggy back on NBC's Olympic coverage, or if there other items that may affect the season-long average. one data point is one data point.
This is just heinous. Based on the comments by Joe Miller one would think that the ratings would've been respectable.
Well thats disappointing but to give you an example of how low the ratings can be on NBCSports: From TVSportsratings : 9k viewers for the Fri 3/9 7p Sports Biz on NBCS TVSportsratings: NBCS Tue 3/6: MIN/COL NHL at 9p=167k viewers. Poker After Dark at 12a=124k On Thu 3/1, NBCS had 14 telecasts w/larger audience than Costas. 11 were hunting/fishing. 2 Poker.
May be 82k is respectable for NBC standard for soccer. Wonder if this game was on Fox what would the numbers been?...
Miller, and anyone else who is likely looking at the full audience data set, was probably referencing a specific persons age group ratings (the young male demographic, most likely) and not the overall household or the all persons rating.