MLS 2015 TV Thread (Ratings, contracts etc)

I'm pretty sure the last two Unimás games were shown as just "Unimás" on the MLS site (as well as on UnivisionDeportes.com), but were simulcast on UDN. I could be remembering wrong, I guess.

------RM

 

Don't know whether it's cable provider-contingent (I have FiOS in New York), but every time this season (so far) that Unimás has aired MLS on Friday, that match has been simulcast on UDN for me. And I don't remember that fact being listed on the MLS site every time. I guess we'll just have to monitor it for a bit.

 

I don't have access to Unimas, but do have UDN and have seen every Friday match live on UDN - unfortunately Suddenlink, my provider, has not linked in the English feed for UDN - so todos los partidos fueran en espanol, y no en ingles. Suddenlink doesn't provide access to the live feed at univisiondeportes.com

 

You misspelled, "to the everlasting benefit of my ears and brain."

 

Sunday MLS:

Chicago/Sporting KC: 233K on ESPN2;

Seattle/NYCFC 212K on FS1

 

How much do you guys estimate the fox numbers being impacted by the unverse dispute?

 

Whitecaps at Portland, Saturday, TSN: 110,000
Toronto FC at Philadelphia, Saturday, TSN(4): 75,000

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/e...-free-night-boost-chl-fortunes-134818498.html

 

I had to check: There are 5 (five) TSN networks. That's two more than ESPN, unless you count ESPNews or their regional college channels. How can they support that? Do they have any competitors in Canada?

------RM

 

I am surprised by this. I would have expected much better.

 

Agreed. I would think that 100k or so should have come from Seattle alone as this was an away game for them.

 

I don't think we've reached the point yet where greater than 200k can be considered disappointing, even if it involves Seattle.

 

The largest MLS market + Seattle was below the national average. It's disappointing to say the least.

 

You are making a lot of assumptions that are not supported by the facts of MLS viewership.

1. This game ranks 5th out of 10 games on FS1 so far this season. Of the 4 that had more viewers, 3 also involved Seattle, and 2 were the opening day double header.
2. Last season the NBCSN average of 142k > 131k viewers for New York - Seattle on NBCSN.
3. There is no reason to assume that the final season average will be > 212k. Last year NBCSN was averaging 215k at this point in the season before finishing at 142k. And the FS1 numbers are likely inflated by Seattle appearing in 40% of it's games so far.
4. There has also never been any evidence that TV market size increases MLS viewership. The 2 largest TV markets, New York and Los Angeles, provided the least watched MLS game on ESPN2 last season, and provided the second fewest viewers so far this season.

 

So a Seattle game was not up to par to other Seattle games? How is that not disappointing?

So I shouldn't be disappointed that the largest MLS market + largets MLS fan base couldn't beat the average viewership?

So the fact that the league viewership numbers have historically decreased as the season progresses isn't grounds for disappointment? Ok.

Then why is MLS so set on putting multiple teams in larger markets?

Sorry, but the largest fan base should ideally provide higher tv numbers than other fan bases.
Season averages ideally shouldn't drastically decrease as the season progresses
Larger markets ideally should draw better, or at least equal, numbers than smaller markets.

Essentially what you're telling me is that we shouldn't be disappointed because MLS has historically been disappointing.

 

it's almost like the largest market is represented by a not good branding extension.

 

Up until this point last year NBCSN was having Premier league lead ins. Then it went from around this point to the end of June with no games due to the World Cup. It never did recover to its beginning of the season viewership. levels. Fox does not have a pending drop off of the lead in nor is it about to go on a month and a half break. Something to keep in mind.

 

Completely anecdotal but I was a Uverse customer for about 3 years total at two different addresses and got a pop up that I could be feeding into Nelson ratings and if I wanted to opt out what hoops to jump through. I never had something like that with another cable provider.

 

I expect viewership to be higher for the opening game, and I also expect it to be higher for rivalry games such as Seattle vs LA or Portland. Seattle-Portland and Seattle-LA have historically been the 2 biggest draws for MLS on national TV. So, no it is not disappointing to me that this game had fewer viewers than games I expect to have more viewers.

Seattle does have a gigantic impact on the TV numbers. Last season, national TV games averaged nearly 100k more viewers when Seattle was one of the teams. As you would expect, games with Seattle are still attracting more viewers this season, 270k vs 193k on FS1. Therefore I am not sure why you are arguing they "should ideally provide higher numbers" when they very clearly are providing higher numbers.

Pretty much pointless to debate, because which is the baseline? I could argue that smaller markets are exceeding expectations by matching the large markets and then we could just go in circles. However, the market size of the teams involved has no influence on attracting neutral viewers, which is what MLS and the networks need to do to increase national TV viewership.

Back to my original point, if you choose to be disappointed by 212k viewers for MLS on FS1, then you are probably going to be disappointed every week. I'm saving my disappointment for when a game on FS1 comes in under 100k.

 

Yes, there are five TSN channels, but only two of them are truly national. It's a bit confusing, but TSN 1,3,4,5 are all regional feeds that combine into one national network (just referred to as "TSN"), while TSN 2 is a standalone national network. There are occasions when the regional feeds can show different programs simultaneously (such as they did last week when TSN 4, which is the "standard" TSN in Ontario, showed the TFC game), but under their license they aren't allowed to do that over a set number of hours per month.

The reason for this archaic numbering system is because TSN doesn't want its viewers to confuse its channels with those of its main competitor (Sportsnet), and TSN / TSN 2 have co-existed for years until the regional feeds launched in 2014.

Sportsnet has been divided into a similar regional scheme since it launched 15 years ago, except its naming scheme made much more sense to the layman: Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet West, Sportsnet Ontario and Sportsnet East.

Oddly enough, in the time since Sportsnet debuted it has also launched/acquired separated standalone networks (Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 360, and Sportsnet World).

 

You guys get the NBC Public Service Announcements in Canada?

BTW, here is the greatest The More You Know ever:

 

Of course. Most of our population is close enough to the border to pick up a nearby NBC affiliate over the air, and the big American networks are included in most cable/satellite packages.

Some of the Buffalo stations have been known to focus a lot of transmitting power toward Toronto due to the sheer population disparity between the two cities.

It works both ways, too. I know of plenty of Americans near the border who watch CBC or CTV (usually for sports coverage like Hockey Night in Canada or the Olympics).

 

Yep that is exactly what I do. I used to watch the TFC matches on CBUT (Vancouver) (CBC Affiliate) before the Sounders made it to MLS and before they took them away. I usually watch Hockey (especially during the playoffs) on there or other big sporting events such as the World Cup or Olympics, along with the other channels playing the same events here. A good way to get more content. I even watched some Rufus Wainwright comedy/music special a few months back lol