Here's the Germany match: FS1's USA-Germany friendly averaged 668K viewers yesterday; ESPN's Orioles-Red Sox averaged 620K.— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) June 11, 2015
Follow the Money! http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-fi-soccer-apparel-growth-20150519-story.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/17/soccer-women-marketing-idUSL5N0YW18X20150617 Sponsors catch on to booming womens' sport * TV audiences for women's World Cup double or triple vs 2011 * Ad revenue up strongly but still a fraction of men's World Cup * Corporate interest from traditionally male sectors * More funds allows more women to go pro, raising quality Fox Sports, which is airing all 52 games live, is expected to raise ad revenue of more than $30 million, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. That dwarfs the $6 million that consumer data group Kantar Media reported broadcaster ESPN getting in 2011, but is still a tiny fraction of the $525 million in U.S. ad revenue generated by the men's World Cup in 2014.
The knockout round victory over Colombia drew 4.7 million viewers, per Fox, topping the previous record for soccer coverage on the network. From Fox PR: USA – Colombia attracted 4.7 million viewers, setting a new record for soccer on FOX Sports 1, beating the previous mark of 3.3 million set earlier in the tournament (USA-Australia Group Stage) by 42%. It is the most-watched soccer match on cable since last year’s World Cup. Viewership for the match peaked at 6.4 million in the 9:30-9:45 PM ET quarter hour. http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/u-s...-over-colombia-sets-fox-sports-1-records.html
On the other side of progress: http://us.kantar.com/tech/tv/2015/kantarsport-poll-data-on-womens-interest-in-soccer/ KantarSport: US ranks last among 22 nations in women's interest in soccer
Sure, a small percentage follow soccer. This is nothing new even for men's soccer. 2014 ESPN Luker trend pins it at 9.1%. What is very different from that poll is how fervent and accepted women playing soccer is compared to those nations. Nowhere in the world do 48% of youth soccer players comprise of girls. On that premise alone that poll looks terribly crafted and received. http://sportspath.typepad.com/files/soccer-popularity-continues-to-climb.pdf
Not saying either poll is well crafted, but you're comparing apples and oranges. Luker's numbers are for "avid" followers; Kantar's are for any followers. There's a distinction to be made here between women and girls. Soccer in the US is mostly a kiddie sport that people abandon as they move into adolescence. If you look at the bottom chart on the third page of the link, you'll see that female participation drops off even more severely than the males. http://www.activenetworkrewards.com/Assets/AMG+2009/Soccer.pdf
So India has over five times the percent of women who are soccer fans than the USA despite India being 141st in the Men's FIFA Rankings, 55th in the Women's FIFA Rankings, having a domestic league that I think is worse than MLS, and having a high population of potential players.
Note that Kantar surveys online. Needless to say, the demographics of Internet users in India are vastly different from the country as a whole.
But the true surprise of this poll is that over 50% of the South Africans women and over the 40% of the Indians and Chinese women have interest in soccer !!!!
I have to question whether the response would've been the same if the numbers had been the same for soccer in the US. One look at the Times of India sports section is enough to give a clear indication that soccer has a big mainstream following there ... http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports
USA-China is the third most-watched women’s soccer match of all time. It peaked at a whopping 8.1 million from 9:00-9:15 PM ET.— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) June 27, 2015
I doubt that soccer will ever become more than a fringe sport here in the US, because MLS has devalued its own namebrand to such an extent, that it will always be viewed as an inferior product. The owners should have a vote of no confidence in Garber and work on rebranding the league with the idea of protecting the image until such time that the league can better compete internationally.
Show your work, please. I mean, if you're going to make a claim like this I'm sure you have some hard data to suggest MLS's growth is stagnating: flatlining attendance figures, lower value sponsorship and TV contracts, falling merchandise sales. Next you're going to have to show that MLS is responsible for this devaluation and not some outside force or forces. Oh, you can't show any of these things, can you? What you do have is good only for filling balloons. If you can't enjoy our domestic major professional soccer league because it can't 'compete internationally' you have some serious self-esteem issues.
I have been trying to get people to go to MLS games since 96. Trust me, recent decisions have made things harder. I have had better luck getting people with absolutely no soccer background to go with me than actual soccer fans. The minute I bring up MLS to anyone who follows European soccer, they instantly consider it 2nd class and beneath them. This is not my European friends either, but rather American friends whose soccer knowledge is overall, very limited. Like I said, I have been following since 96 so the quality is not as issue for me. For me, the issue was how lame the fans have become. They need to learn that you can support MLS and still criticize the decisions MLS officials make without getting all defensive. When I bring up the issues of why people in the past have told me why they don't want to go to MLS games, people jump on me call me a troll and launch personal attacks. They are so over sensitive, they request that mods ban people for speaking out against decisions that MLS is making. When I saw that MLS fans couldn't take criticism from other MLS fans about MLS, I knew was time to call it a day. After all, if you can't take friendly disagreements from fellow MLS fans, how are you going to handle some real trolling from hardcore Euro fans? Yes, I am just one fan, but how many more dedicated fans who only watch soccer, will MLS drive away with their poor decision making?
Yeah.. Fighting a two front war gets very tiring and after almost 20 years of supporting MLS, I threw in the towel. It was just not worth it anymore. And when MLS can't keep fans who sole sporting interest is soccer, you have a major problem. Like I said, IMHO, MLS is damaged goods. After almost 20 when people think MLS the majority still think it's a real estate website. Certain franchises could be saved, but the league itself has to be scrapped and rebranded, taking in other popular teams NASL and USL, to create a new super league with a fresh new start. The EPL did a similar change in the 90's. After more than a 100 years of history, they broke away from the Football League. It was a remarkable success, so the precedent is there.
So basically you gave up because none of your friends were in to it? Bit flimsy to me. I'm a big hockey fan stuck in Indy, where I can count on one hand the amount of hockey fans I know. Doesn't stop me from watching as many Red Wings games as I can. Honestly, why give in to what other people think?
Nah, I'd been going to games myself for years. That is not the issue. As I clearly wrote, the issue I'm having now is with other MLS fans. Just like Obama supporters who were anti-war before 2008 and now use him killing Osama as a boosting point, many MLS fans will make any excuse to defend the decisions Garber makes. Then they try and demonize anyone that disagrees with them and I for one am tired of that shit. There are lots of cool MLS fans that I have met, but unfortunately they are not as outspoken on their opinions as most of the apologists are.
The United States' win over Germany is the most-watched men's or women's World Cup semifinal ever on American television. The 2-0 victory by the second-ranked U.S. over the No. 1 Germans on Tuesday night averaged 8.4 million viewers on FOX. The network said Wednesday the previous high was 5.9 million for the 2006 men's semifinal between Germany and Italy. The audience was up 47 percent from the 5.7 million for the Americans' quarterfinal against China on Friday night. And it was more than double the 3.4 million for the Americans' semifinal in 2011, which was played during the day in the U.S. with the tournament in Germany. Sunday's final is also in prime time, giving it a chance to surpass the record of nearly 18 million viewers for the 1999 Women's World Cup final that was played in the U.S.
How does Fox' 6.1 ovrnight for US-Germany compare to other big games? 2015 Pro Bowl on ESPN and Stanley Cup Final Game 6 on NBC both got 5.6— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) July 1, 2015
USA’s 5-2 victory over Japan to win the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament garnered a 15.2 overnight rating, destroying both the 8.6 overnight rating for the USA-Japan final in 2011 and blowing past the 13.3 overnight for the USA-China final in 1999.