The 2017 MLS TV Thread

Discussion in 'MLS: News & Analysis' started by KCbus, Mar 6, 2017.

  1. crookeddy

    crookeddy Member+

    Apr 27, 2004
    A different WWE owns UFC.
     
  2. Yoshou

    Yoshou Fan of the CCL Champ

    May 12, 2009
    Seattle
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It's actually WME-IMG, so named because it is the merger of William Morris Agency and Endeavor Agency (WME), which later purchased International Management Group (IMG).
     
  3. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Some good interactions on the chain.
     
  4. Tom Ado

    Tom Ado Member

    Jun 25, 2015
    #304 Tom Ado, Jun 7, 2017
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2017
    Going gray: Sports TV viewers skew older
    Sports Business Journal

    Have no idea how long this article will be made available. But here are some interesting graphs. Four of the five youngest audiences by a decent margin are soccer properties. Soccer goes 1-2-3 in highest % of Under-18 viewers.
    Sports Median Age.png Sports Youth Viewership.png
     
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  5. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Interesting snippet from an article on why TV sports ratings may be falling. I think would have more impact on MLS numbers than some other traditional sports due to the MLS fan age demographic.

    As cord-cutting increases (according to Nielsen, the number of people in the U.S. without pay TV went up by 8.4 million between 2012 and 2016 alone), fans are turning to alternate methods of watching their favorite sports.

    That trend is borne out in a more positive number from NBC’s Premier League coverage this season: Though TV viewership was down in 2016-17, the season was NBC’s most streamed ever, with increases of 24 percent and 35 percent in unique devices and live minutes, respectively, compared to 2015-16.

    If NBC and other networks can replace lost TV viewers with streaming viewers, they could survive and even thrive in the shifting landscape.

    At the end of 2016, U.S. digital ad sales surpassed traditional TV for the first time, according to eMarketer. In addition, providers are generally able to charge more for online ads, due to the streaming audience skewing younger.


    https://goo.gl/E5Olcl
     
  6. PTFC in KCMO

    PTFC in KCMO Member+

    Aug 12, 2012
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    I have to imagine MLSLive is making bank at this point in time.
     
  7. blacksun

    blacksun Member+

    Mar 30, 2006
    Seoul, Korea
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yes, their streaming service has over 1.5 million paying subscribers at $10 a month.
     
  8. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    upload_2017-6-9_12-57-26.png
    2 million!!! I wonder how many MLS Live subscribers there are.
     
  9. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    @jaxx2009 thanks for this weeks compilation at worldsoccertalk.com

    Total Competition Teams TV1 TV2
    3,003,000 UEFA CL Final Juventus / Real Madrid FOX; 1762000 FOXD; 1241000
    2,052,000 Int’l Friendly Mexico / Ireland Univision; 1500000 UDN; 552000
    1,330,000 Int’l Friendly USMNT / Venezuela FS1; 492000 Univision; 838000
    286,000 MLS Timbers / Earthquakes UniMás; 286000 —; —
    275,000 MLS Orlando City / Chicago Fire FS1; 211000 FOXD; 64000
    256,000 MLS Sporting / Minnesota ESPN; 256000 —; —

    91,000 NWSL Courage / Kansas City Lifetime; 91000 —; —
    84,000 Manchester City Cup América Academy / Xolos Academy —; — UDN; 84000
    63,000 Manchester City Cup Sounders Academy / Spurs Academy —; — UDN; 63000

    Excludes the 25 million MLS viewers on MLSlive :p
     
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  10. Fiosfan

    Fiosfan Red Card

    Mar 21, 2010
    Nevada
    Club:
    New York City FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  11. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  12. Andy_B

    Andy_B Member+

    Feb 2, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Austin Karp‏ @AustinKarp
    Fast national numbers for USA-Mexico qualifier: Univision/UDN averaged 4.5 million viewers. Best soccer audience for 2017. FS1 = 2.3 million
     
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  13. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I found this in this article posted last May

    Given 66% of Millennials and 32% of older Millennials are watching to online services, and almost a 40% of MLS fans are under 34 years-old (plus some people over 34 can use the Internet), then that could account for the stagnation of TV viewer numbers alone.

    NBA have actually published the number of online viewers in the past. Maybe it would behoove MLS to do the same (unless the numbers are so poor they would prefer not to).

    Maybe ratings expert @jaxx2009 can help explain why these numbers aren't published, or if they are where we can find them.
     
  14. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #314 Paul Berry, Jun 13, 2017
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2017
    WCQ numbers - English language channels
    Guatemala vs. USA – 162,000 - beIN
    USA vs. Guatemala – 954,000 - ESPN2
    St. Vincent & the Grenadines vs. USA – 95,000 - beIN
    USA vs. Trinidad & Tobago – 550,000 - FS1
    USA vs. Mexico – 1,262,000 - FS1
    Costa Rica vs. USA – 241,000 - beIN
    USA vs. Trinidad and Tobago - 797,000 - FS1
    Mexico vs. USA - 2.3 million - FS1
    - SoccerAmerica

    Homes available (000) - 2015
    beIN - 16.945 (14.6%)
    ESPN - 94,396 (81.1%)
    ESPN2 94,379 (81.1%)
    FOX SPORTS 1 - 84,836 (72.9%)
    - TV By The Numbers


    Homes available (000) - 2017
    beIN - 22,744 up
    ESPN - 87,859 down
    ESPN2 87,731 down
    FOX SPORTS 1 - 84,724 stable
    - Sports TV Ratings
     
  15. Kejsare

    Kejsare Member+

    Portland Timbers
    Mar 10, 2010
    Virginia
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Some reports suggest only 10% or so of sports viewing is online. I can't say with a certainty, so we're only talking 20-40k for a national broadcast. And the different types of streaming platforms makes that number difficult as well (MLSLive - in Canada, ESPN/FS1, cable provider's online platform).
     
  16. FoxBoro 143

    FoxBoro 143 Member+

    Jan 18, 2004
    MA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    And the data on digital viewers is so sporadic, and is often delivered in a format that we are not accustomed to (nielsen data) so it becomes difficult to have any idea what the numbers are. My thought is that the numbers are growing rapidly on the digital end though.
     
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  17. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    According to Bloomberg about 5% of Premier League viewers watch the matches on Sky Go. that's about 44,000 on average. I suspect the figures are higher percentage-wise in the US as soccer fans tend to be younger. 10% sounds right.
     
  18. Fiosfan

    Fiosfan Red Card

    Mar 21, 2010
    Nevada
    Club:
    New York City FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #318 Fiosfan, Jun 13, 2017
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 13, 2017
    It's going to be huge !!
     
  19. Stupid_American

    Stupid_American Member+

    Jan 8, 2003
    New York, NY
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    A very solid compendium on historical TV ratings for soccer in the US was just released by Jonathan Tannenwald today (see below). He essentially documents the most-watched soccer games in U.S. television and online streaming modern history (from 1994 until today). It also appears that he got some support from ESPN, Fox, Univision and Telemundo, so the numbers should be credible.

    LINK: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/thegoalkeeper/306164231.html
     
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  20. GunnerJacket

    GunnerJacket Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 18, 2003
    Gainesville, GA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Good find, and thanks to him and his support for putting that together.
     
  21. whiteonrice04

    whiteonrice04 Member+

    Sep 8, 2006
    That is an impressive table.
    That should show anyone who questions it that there definitely is an appetite for soccer on US TV.
     
  22. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    If I read that correctly.

    Highest rated game overall, Germany vs Argentina WC Brazil2014.

    Highest English language game, USA vs Japan WC Canada2015.

    Highest Spanish language game, Mexico vs Netherlands WC Brazil2014.
     
  23. newtex

    newtex Member+

    May 25, 2005
    Houston
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    I don't see ratings on that chart. To figure rating you would have to divide the viewers by the possible viewers. That would be different for the various years.

    Unless you are using "rated" to mean ranking.
     
  24. Tom Ado

    Tom Ado Member

    Jun 25, 2015
    #324 Tom Ado, Jun 14, 2017
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2017
    The World Cup is event viewing even for people who aren't soccer fans so it's not always the best measurement of the sport's growth (although the fact that more people are tuning in suggests there's a large base of casual/on-the-fence soccer viewers that can slowly be converted into regular fans).

    I'd like to see a similar list for non-World Cup matches, since growth outside World Cup years is probably a better indicator of the sport's rise. I came across these numbers on Wikipedia and it's interesting to note that three non-World Cup games within the last six years outdrew any Stanley Cup final game post-1973--no Stanley Cup final game has broken 9 million since the 1970s. A couple of the matches did not involve the US or Mexico. A lot of these non-World Cup summer international competitions are still relatively new to the non-diehard soccer audience because they've only recently begun airing on networks that people actually get, so it's fair to hypothesize that numbers will grow as the general viewers slowly get familiar with them. It would be huge if Copa America moves to even years as speculated, and either ESPN, FOX or NBC grapple English-language TV rights away from beIN (I'm assuming they still have the rights).
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  25. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

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