Rank Date Competition Teams TV1 Total 12 8/18 MLS Seattle Sounders / Los Angeles Galaxy ESPN: 239000 / ESPND: — 239,000 http://worldsoccertalk.com/2018/08/25/watched-soccer-games-us-tv-august-15-20-2018/ 20 8/24 MLS Orlando City SC / Atlanta United ESPN: 305000 / ESPND: — 305,000 25 8/24 MLS Los Angeles Galaxy / Los Angeles FC ESPN: 257000 / ESPND: — 257,000 27 8/23 MLS Houston Dynamo / FC Dallas UniMás: 244000 / UDN: — 244,000 29 8/26 MLS Portland Timbers / Seattle Sounders FS1: 235000 / FOXD: — 235,000 34 9/1 MLS Seattle Sounders / Sporting Kansas City UniMás: 102000 / UDN: 94000 196,000 37 8/26 MLS New York Red Bulls / DC United FS1: 168000 / FOXD: — 168,000 38 9/2 MLS DC United / Atlanta United FS1: 155000 / FOXD: — 155,000 http://worldsoccertalk.com/2018/09/08/watched-soccer-games-us-tv-august-22-september-2-2018/ Some Concacaf league games got in the 30K, not too bad.
Sorry I've been slammed with work I will compile data by Friday I have some numbers not all but can drop a couple nuggets the MLS TV average is 316k.
If that holds, MLS ratings (316K) will be higher the NHL averages on NBCSN (302K). While combining the NBC, NBCSN, and NBC streaming ratings NHL's average goes up to 417K, it would be a pretty significant milestone for MLS. https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2018/04/12/Media/NHL-audience.aspx
Yeah if you compare to just NBCSN you have to take out the games on ESPN and Fox... Those channels are both simply watched by more people than NBCSN...
Closest apple to apple is looking at ESPN vs NBCSN and FOX vs NBC Numbers are close and is a testament to MLS TV ratings catching up with NHL. Because of NHL exclusive deal with NBC their games aren't fractured amongst TV audiences but MLS has been neck and neck with those numbers FOX is 409k to NHL 416K. Numbers will fluctuate the last month.
For MLS a league with a smaller geographic footprint of 23 teams to NHL 31 to have closed the TV gap like it has with months of months of regular season long TV ratings to show a growing audience. I forsee the TV numbers to continue to grow as more markets are added into MLS. Think about this MLS still has no presence in 6 of the Top 25 Markets in the US. 11 Phoenix (Prescott) 1,919,930 1.712 14 Detroit 1,779,380 1.587 16 Miami-Ft. Lauderdale 1,677,850 1.496 20 Sacramnto-Stkton-Modesto 1,412,940 1.260 21 St. Louis 1,189,890 1.061 23 Charlotte 1,145,270 1.021
The catch is that some of the best ratings come from non MLS cities. But perhaps I am confusing National team ratings, I remember some articles that indicated Austin and Norfok Virginia having some of the best soccer ratings in the USA, but maybe that was world cup and not MLS games.
I don't know if MLS has that much smaller footprint in the U.S. than the NHL. There are 7 Canadian NHL teams so there are 24 U.S.-based NHL teams compared to the 20 U.S.-based MLS teams. There are eight Top 25 markets that don't have have NHL teams including two top 10 markets. 8 Houston 2,450,800 2.137 10 Atlanta 2,412,730 2.104 14 Seattle-Tacoma 1,808,530 1.577 18 Orlando-Daytona Bch-Melbrn 1,519,570 1.325 19 Cleveland-Akron (Canton) 1,498,960 1.307 20 Sacramnto-Stkton-Modesto 1,379,770 1.203 22 Charlotte 1,189,950 1.038 25 Portland, OR 1,143,670 0.997 #14 Seattle on that list for now but they are likely to get an NHL team very soon. Of course, Miami is about to leave the MLS list so that's pretty much a wash.
Well actually MLS National Foot Print is quite smaller than NHL. NHL 24 US based teams account for 65,368,240 DMA TV homes or 58.29% US TV MLS 20 US based teams account for 56,550,090 DMA TV homes or 50.426% US TV Which along with NHL being 75+yrs older than MLS is why NHL is NHL still has the slight TV advantage. When you add in NHL's potential Seattle Expansion team which could join NHL in 2021, the NHL US DMA TV homes bumps to 67,248,990 or 59.967%which by 2021 would be close to 70 mil with US population gains. Now this is the kicker and proves MLS expansion strategy is wise. When you add in the announced Expansion Teams to join MLS by 2020 #24 FC Cinncinnatti, #25 Nashville, #26 Miami MLS would have 26 US based teams that will account for account for 60,130,560 DMA US TV homes or 53.619% of the US TV audience with 28 Teams that number jumps to 63,829,870 or 56.918% and the inevitable 32 teams would put MLS in 68,604,230 DMA US TV homes or 61.175%.
It is good that you did the math. The total number makes a better argument than your original point about the number of markets without teams. MLS does have teams in more small markets than the NHL. Not part of this analysis but the NHL also has a lot of teams in the Northeast where markets bleed over more. I would argue that the NHL revenue advantage is not just based on age of the leagues. The other big revenue factor for the NHL is the huge Canadian deal which benefits all the league teams and local tv audience/rights contracts for a lot of the teams. People get too fixated on the national U.S. tv deal for the NHL. MLS does get some Canadian tv money but nothing like the NHL. MLS has almost no local tv revenue yet. Even if MLS tv ratings get close to the national NHL ratings total revenue is going to still be way behind.
NHL Turmoil https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/is-bettman-avoiding-nbc-or-is-nbc-avoiding-bettman.2497817/ https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/nhl-2017-2018-tv-ratings.2394535/page-25 MLS Revenue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_sports_leagues_by_revenue http://www.sportingintelligence.com...join-worlds-top-10-leagues-by-revenue-120601/ The NHL debate is very interesting I follow and like both leagues I like tracking the business sides of both leagues so I'm always up for good debate and discussion on it. I agree about the NHL, Revenue but, I think MLS revenue streams will rise faster than what you think. You already have MLS Apparel sponsorships rising the Adidas Revenue catching up then out pacing NHL Adidas deal. I post on the hockey HFBoards.com alot and the sentiment of many on their at the end of the season is what's been said amongst Rogers who bought the rights is that they overpaid and are bleeding money from the deal the ad revenue isn't meeting forecast projections. There is also discontent amongst NBC and NHL who both took shots at each other: NBC went the rare public route of saying the NHL made a mistake by not sending players to the Olympics and said it didn't help already down ratings. I'm a Caps Fan but I think that NHL like a old retired child star is living off of revenues earned from yesteryear. Gary Bettman very smartly signed long term deals 5-10 years ago when NHL was on a much better footing the question is what happens when those deals expire. I think it's a real possibility that they will see a significant reduction in the Canadian deal which pays $400 mil US when the Canadian dollar is strong and not wildly fluctuating. They get $600 mil in total from TV. The difference is they make alot more in local tv deals. I think MLS has alot of incoming growth 1-Adidas deal rose from $25 mil to $117mil and is up for renewal in 2023 up 6/7 teams would have been added by then further increasing the value of the deal. 2.The new TV deal is up for renewal in 2022 I expect $300-450 mil from that 3.The Global International TV deals are up for renewal after this season. 4. The Canadian TV deals are up for renewal in 2022.
It is about the inventory of commercials per game. Watching US football and basketball seems like watching a stream of commercial interrupted by some guys playing sports (watching live isn't a picnic either as the last college football game I went to (rose bowl) dragged on for about 4.5-5 hours. Haven't watched NHL in years (watched quite a bit in my youth when you had 3 choices for TV), but I'm sure the amount of time for commercial in a game dwarfs that of MLS. One big thing in soccer favor is that younger generation doesn't have the patience for that stuff. I don't watch anything live and many kids don't even watch anything but highlights. So having a huge inventory of spots per game has little value, if everyone is just skipping by them. So if soccer is used to monetizing non-stop action they may be ahead of the game in the next decade.
MLS TV 2018 TV Ratings ESPN Networks FOX Networks Univision Networks Week 1 HOU v ATL 469K UNI March 3 Sat 330pm SEA v LAFC 456K ESPN Mar 4 Sun 5pm SKC v NYCFC 180K FS1 Mar 4 Sun 730 pm LAG v Port 168K FS1 Mar 4 Sun 10pm Week2 ATL v DC 576K ESPN Mar 11 Sun 3pm RSL v LAFC 429K UNI Mar 10 Sat 330pm Week 3 NYCFC v OCSC 239k UNI Mar 17 Sat 330pm Week 4 FCD v Portland 198k UniMas Mar 24 Sat 330pm Week 5 OCSC v NYRB 171k UniMas Mar 31 Sat 1pm San Jose v NYCFC 115k ESPN2 Mar 31 Sat 8pm LAG v LAFC 676K FOX Mar 31 3 pm Sat Week 6 ATL v LAFC ESPN 259k Apr 7 Sat 5pm LAG v SKC FS1 229k Apr 8 Sun 9pm OCSC v Portland 181k ESPN Apr 8 Sun 4pm Week 7 Phil vs Orlando ESPN 253k Apr 13 Fri 8pm Chicago v LAG UNI 341k Apr 14 Sat 330 pm ATL UTD v NYCFC FS1 197k Apr 15 Sun 6 pm Sporting KC v Seattle ESPN 248k Apr 15 Sun 4 pm Week 8 Seattle v Minnesota ESPN 204k Apr 22 Sun 4 pm Portland v NYCFC FS1 152k Apr 22 Sun 6 pm NYRB v Chicago UNI 281k Apr 21 Sat 330 pm Week 9 Philly vs DCU Unimas 148k UniMas Sun Apr 28 330pm Colorado vs Orlando ESPN 173k Sun Apr 29 4pm LAFC vs Seattle FS1 248K Sun Apr 29 9pm Week 10 Toronto FC vs Seattle ?? FS1 Wed 5/9/18/ 730pm** LAFC vs FC Dallas 384k UNI Sat 5/5/18 155pm NYRB vs NYCFC 334k ESPN Sat 5/5/18 355pm Week 11 FCD vs LAG 395k UNI Sat 5/12/18 330pm Port vs Sea 231k ESPN Sun 5/13/18 400pm OCSC vs ATL UTD 285k FS1 Sun 5/13/18 600pm LAFC vs NYCFC 233k FS1 Sun 5/13/18 830pm Week 12 ATL UTD vs NYRB FS1 176k Sun 5/20/18 700 pm CHI vs Houston UniMas 239k Sun 5/20/18 400 pm ** Portland v LAFC FOX 465K Sat 5/19/18 300 pm Week 13 SKC vs Columbus FS1 144k Sun 5/27/18 600 pm Hou vs NYCFC UniMas 281k Fri 5/25/18 855pm LAG vs San Jose UDN 328k Fri 5/25/18 1055pm** (No Unimas Number Reported for last double header game) Week 14 Port vs LAG ESPN2 272k Sat 6/2/18 5 pm Week 15 Columbus vs NYRB ESPN 292k Sat 6/9/18 5 pm Week 16 ATL UTD vs Portland FOX 1.074M Sun 6/24/18 400 pm NYRB vs FC Dallas UniMas169K Sat 6/23/18 600 pm** Week 17 SEA vs PORT FOX 1.159M Sat 6/30/18 430 pm ATL UTD vs OCSC ESPN 285K Sat 6/30/18 700 pm San Jose vs LAG UniMas 276 Sat 6/30/18 1000 pm Toronto FC vs NYRB FOX 1.109M Sun 7/1/18 505 pm Week 18 LAFC vs OCFC FS1 127K Sat 7/7/18 1100pm NYCFC vs NYRB FS1 ??? Sun 7/8/18 700pm Week 19 ATL UTD vs SEA FOX 1.558M Sun 7/15/18 200pm LAFC vs PORT ESPN 253k Sun 7/15/18 600pm Week 20 ATL UTD vs DC United UNI 341K Sat 7/21/18 330pm Week 21 OCFC vs NYCFC ESPN 176K Thur 7/26/18 800pm LAFC vs LAG ESPN 291K Thurs 7/26/18 1030pm SKC vs FC Dallas ESPN 211K Sat 7/28/18 900pm Seattle vs NYCFC ESPN 191K Sun 7/29/18 500pm LAG vs Orlando FS1 140K Sun 7/29/18 930pm Week 22 ATL UTD vs Toronto ESPN 207k Sun 8/5/18 400pm NYRB vs LAFC FS1 ??? Sub 8/5/18 600pm Week 23 Toronto FC vs NYRB ESPN ??? Sun 8/12/18 400pm DC United vs Orlando FS1 ??? Sun 8/12/18 800pm Seattle vs FC Dallas FS2 139k Sun 8/12/18 1000pm Week 24 LAFC vs RSL ESPN2 119K Wed 8/15/18 100pm Seattle vs LA Galaxy ESPN 239K Sat 8/18/18 730pm DCU vs NE Revs FS1 ??? Sun 8/19/18 730pm Week 25 NYCFC vs NYRB FS1 ??? Sun 8/22/18 700pm HOU vs FCD UniMas 244k Thurs 8/23/18 900pm OCFC vs ATL UTD ESPN 305k Fri 8/24/18 800pm LAG vs LAFC ESPN 257k Fri 8/24/18 1030pm Portland vs Seattle 235k Sun 8/26/18 930pm NYRB vs DC United 168k Sun 8/26/18 700pm Week 26 Seattle vs Sporting KC UniMas 196k 9/1/18 Sat 400pm DCU vs ATL UTD FS1 155K Sun 730pm 9/2/18 Sun 730pm Week 27 NYCFC vs DC United UniMas 377k 9/8/18 Sat 455pm Colorado vs ATL UTD UNI 290k 9/15/18 Sat 330pm Week 28 Chicago vs OCSC FS1??? 9/16/18 Sun 500pm DCU vs NYRB ESPN 216k 9/16/18 Sun 100pm Total Network Average 317.8k Average ESPN Networks 253.8k Average Fox Networks 409.9k Average Univision Networks 289.8k All ratings are sourced from the below sites http://www.showbuzzdaily.com (Search MLS or Major League Soccer) http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/?s=MLS http://worldsoccertalk.com/category/tv-ratings/
Sunday, ESPN: PHILADELPHIA UNION / SPORTING KANSAS 184k Sunday, FS1: LA GALAXY / SEATTLE SOUNDERS 133k (+78k on Fox Deportes)
Some better late than never numbers from me. USA - Mexico 827k ESPN 2.3 million Univision USA - Brazil 512k FS1 1.4 million Univision Mexico - Uruguay 1.9 million Univision
Thanks so a couple of notes -211k with FS1/FSD not bad for FS1 this year. FS1 ratings for all it's league soccer properties are down only. The highly rated games have been with National team games, not sure if a change is needed in on air talent. Would love to see them grab Ray Hudson and Phil Schoen after BEIN goes under. -184k on EPSN beat follow on ESPN programming after the game by a wide margin so its good to show your worth to a network. Looks like after the game alot of people turned off ESPN more than 55% -Another positive this game in the same time slot beat out a TBS MLB game. 88- MLS REGULAR SEASON L: PHILADELPHIA UNION SPORTING KANSAS ESPN 1:00 PM 127 0.08 184k 143 -ESPN ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY ESPN 3:07 PM 23 0.04 80k 150 MLB REGULAR SEASON: ORIOLES VS YANKEES TBS NETWORK 1:00 PM 210 0.04 155k
NHL may eventually have a national TV problem but their local ratings - even if down - are still exponentially higher than MLS local TV ratings (which has been a difficult thing to track because some of the local TV stations that MLS is on in some markets aren't rated or no published ratings). See the below, even what looks like low ratings are still relatively healthy audiences in the larger markets. http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2018/04/23/Media/NHL-ratings.aspx
Regrettably today's match between RB:NY and AUFC will come at the same time as the Falcons hosting the Bengals. Disappointed the Atlanta casuals will be pulled in two directions.
Campeones cup: ESPN 2 101k, Univision 1.1 million. Doubt we'll see English language coverage of this tournament again, and it might keep ESPN from ever looking at the ccl. The massive Spanish language eating though we'll probably guarantee this games survival.