MLS 2013 TV Ratings

It sounds great, but...

4.6% of 15M: 690k
11% of 400k: 44k

 

Everyone is aware that the WS is not the national event it used to be, including the networks. I think within those parameters it makes sense to report that the series and game 6 did well. (Ok, "very well" in the original context was vague and meaningless.)

 

every time you think they've bottomed out....
@AustinKarp1h
This is why you dont go up against NFL: MLS DC United-Dynamo on NBC last Sunday afternoon got 0.2 rating/294K viewers. Yes, that is VERY low

 

Actually, I was expecting even lower. Almost 300k is very good day at the office for MLS especially with such a weak matchup and against NFL.

 

Well it is only very low if it is in the main NBC channel.


If so, then this is a pretty terrible rating.

 

It was main NBC

 

In the same token, MLS is not the best league in the world of Soccer, and faces competition from other leagues. MLB is an old league and it is the best Baseball could offer. Plus, it was the national pastime. Based on the current trends, MLB is facing a negative trend in terms of younger demographic and the New America. The median age could reach the 60 within matter of years. To suffice, among major sports in this country, TV ratings has been trending lower for Baseball. Even Wallstreet Journal stated that this could become an issue with TV revenues in the future due to falling ratings and older demographic. I wouldn't be surprised to see a much lower TV revenue in the future for Baseball if this trend stays intact, and TV rating sees further declines.

 

We'll the tv money won't drop for MLB till at least 2022. That's a long time for TV.

 

I expect 0.3-0.4 ratings for MLS playoffs on NBC-400k-50ok will be our baseline.

 

the time slot being dead to start with is exactly why mls gets it. it's a vicious circle. you get the worst slot because you don't draw and then you don't draw because...

 

That's not a fair comparison since you are comparing world series vs regular season EPL. A lot of regular season MLB games on broadcast get less than 2 million viewers. Compare that to a EPL game that gets 900K viewers on NBC and the 6-17 age group isn't much different.

 

Thanks for putting this together all year.

Abysmal is a word I would use to describe the ESPN ratings this year, NBCSN is mediocre. Nothing we hadn't realized already, but man this is a big step back across the board from last year. Maybe Becks drew in more eyeballs than we realized?

 

mls is a better attendance league than a tv league.
people know there's a league. they know there's a local team. they like soccer, at least somewhat. they don't, however, follow the team closely, know the standings, know much of anything about the other teams.
this sounds to me like the perfect formula for going to a game here and there, but never watching on tv.

 

I still think it's just a matter of time. At the moment, it feels like something that's years away, but it's still only a matter of time.

That's exactly how I treat my local sporting interests when I'm not a diehard fan. Makes complete sense.

 

There's just too much competition from other soccer.

While it's true that MLS has been steadily improving, I don't think we can say that it's been improving at a faster clip than EPL, UEFA CL, USMNT, MFL or any of the other soccer competition MLS has to fight against.

People forget that the availability, production value and overall quality of non MLS soccer on TV in the last few years has really exploded. Between BeIn, FX1, ESPN and NBCSN I can have permanent access to all of the most important soccer that happens around the world on any given week in HD with good commentary and analysis.

Essentially MLS is getting the same size slice of pie that it was getting 6 years ago even though the overall size of the pie has probably doubled since then.

This underlines the need for MLS to step into another gear if it wants to keep up. Leagues like EPL, UCL and MFL are not static targets. They're working on improving their products just as hard as we're improving ours. To make a significant cut into this popularity deficit we have to have a much more significant growth spurt than the conservative annual 5% salary cap increase we have today.

 

Reminds me of a conversation once.. "Oh I watch NFL and NHL games, my old dad watches Baseball and boxing while my kids are into Soccer and Basketball.."

 

I'd be more concerned if soccer tv ratings in general were decreasing. They aren't though. In fact, pretty much every soccer property is breaking tv records, except MLS which is doing the complete opposite. Not only that, it seems like local viewership for MLS teams has remained the same or even increased but the national ratings keep trending down.

I'm starting to wonder if the increasing exposure of EPL/UCL/etc. are siphoning away the neutral viewership from MLS. Without any strong ties to MLS teams, it seems easily plausible that many of the neutral MLS viewers get spoiled by the high quality product of the EPL/UCL and thus have little reason to follow MLS anymore. I used to think the opposite (where EPL would help MLS) but now I'm starting to question that.

 

in soccer terms, the u.s. is a developing country.
would you rather 'live' in a developing country, or in the rich countries of the world?
as you say, there's pbl a migration to those other destinations, and i don't think it should be surprising.

 

Got a mate that´s Scottish, he lives in Glasgow and watch Rangers whenever they play.. But he never watches Scottish football in general, he watches English games on telly.

 

Except we are all reminded frequently that MLB games aren't big with national audiences, so that stacks the deck against MLB if by a "fair comparison" you're trying to get an idea of how many kids watch MLB. Add in all the local MLB broadcasts to the national ones and add up all the EPL games, not just the ones that draw the 900K audiences. 10 EPL games/week and 90-100 MLB games/week. You'd also need new figures on percentages of kids in the audience as well.

 

How much of that had to do with the SPL being essentially two team league every year?