MLS 2015 TV Thread (Ratings, contracts etc)

After posting that, I went back and looked more closely. It looks like they don't have a lot of the local RSNs listed yet on the schedule, so the number of non-exclusives could grow as the local television schedules are finalized.

 

http://bigapplesoccer.com/teams/redbulls2.php?article_id=42220

This is actually pretty close to what they used to be a few years ago if I recall correctly. Metro and the Devils ratings have always been relatively close. Can't remember the source, but a .2 rings a bell for some reason.

I would say this can be explained largely by more people in NYC proper paying attention to MLS with NYCFC joining the fold. Some of it may be fans who aren't using their tickets these days (still a lot of no-shows) and even some new fans.

 

In 2012 the team's local viewership was third in the league behind Seattle and Portland...these numbers are well above 2012...don't know if other teams have moved up particularly LA with that huge Time Warner Cable deal...

Still don't think MSG is paying the team anything however...

The team tried to shop the rights a couple of years ago without success...these increases may improve chances moving forward...

The team unable to sell local radio rights is now doing an over the internet radio broadcast...I'm wondering if they're developing an in-house broadcast team that could be part of an attempt to shop at least part of the package over the air as soon as the MSG deal permits...sense the team is absolutely fine with MSG's Steve Cangialosi on the PBP mike...likely less so with Shep Messing on color commentary...

 

Do you know what the 2012 numbers are? Can't seem to find them.

 

Can't copy and paste the chart but it was in thousands watching...I'll just roll out the number though it'll take time lol...

Seattle 36k
Portland 14k
NY 13k
Philly 13K
DC 11k
LA 11k
MLS average 10k
Chicago 9k
KC 7k
Dallas 6k
SL 5k
Chivas 5k
SJ 5k
Houston 4k
NE 4k
Colorado 2k

That's it...the way the chart was prepared it was clear the ranking above took into account which team had more viewers even if the rounded off numbers by thousands were the same...

By the way...hats off to Big Apple Soccer and Kristian Dyer (who's also a big NY Jets reporter in this town)...getting hard numbers is often very difficult with our club...likely with most clubs...

 

And the chart numbers above like Dyer's numbers were for households watching so the actual number of peopled watching is higher...don't know how (or if) Nielson accounts for that...

 

They usually develop separate estimates for viewers, but that's for national stuff, I doubt they put out the extra estimates for MLS regional games.

 

Houston Dash vs. Seattle Reign last Friday on Fox Sports 1: 136,000 viewers

— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) August 28, 2015

 

I just saw that there are 2 Bundesliga games on FoxDeportes today. I believe they are on FS2 in English.

I wonder what chanel will get higher ratings. Not sure if Bundesliga is popular among Latinos in the USA. Maybe South Americans.

 

TSN
353k (VAN vs TOR) Saturday 6:00pm 3/7/2015
96k (CHI vs VAN) Saturday 6:00pm 3/14/2015
109k (LA vs VAN) Saturday 10:00pm 4/4/2015
110k (POR vs VAN) Saturday 10:30pm 5/2/2015
193k (TOR vs HOU) Sunday 5:00pm 5/10/2015
126k (TFC vs SJ) Saturday 5:00pm 5/30/2015
195k (COLO vs VAN) Saturday 9:00pm 7/4/2015
138k (NYC vs TOR) Sunday 3:00pm 7/12/2015
141k (TFC vs PHI) Saturday 4:00pm 7/18/2015
132k (POR vs VAN) Saturday 10:30pm 7/18/2015
129k (SEA vs VAN) Saturday 10:00pm 8/1/2015
112k: (TOR vs KC) Saturday 4:00pm 8/8/2015
182k (VAN vs RSL) Sunday 10:00pm 8/9/2015
110k (TFC vs ORL) Saturday 4:00pm 8/22/2015
152k (VAN vs DAL) Saturday 10:00pm 8/22/2015

TSN2
58k (COLU vs TOR) Saturday 7:30pm 3/14/2015
48k (ORL vs TOR) Sunday 5:00pm 4/26/2015

Sportsnet One
90k (CHI vs TOR) Saturday 3:00pm 4/4/2015

Sportsnet 360
74k (NE vs TOR) Saturday 7:30pm 8/1/2015

TSN4
75k (PHI vs TFC) Saturday 4:00pm 5/2/2015[/QUOTE]

With the Canadian numbers being solid overall so far during the length of the 6 yr/2011-2016 deals with TSN currently averaging 160k on TSN main channel, which is solid a country that size. I could see MLS getting a 6-7 yr type tv deal for $25-35 mil through 2016-2022 when the the Canadian deal comes up for renewal at the end of the 2016 season. TSN/RDS have a 5 yr/ $200m deal 40mil per year with the CFL. MLS in Canada has half the ratings,but produces almost double the content; CFL 18 games to MLS 34.

 

Good news.

August 29, 2015 @ 2:25PM EDT
Check out @SportsTVRatings's Tweet:

catch-up on missing days (last Friday through Thursday) commencing. Will be all caught up by end of day tomorrow.

— Sports TV Ratings (@SportsTVRatings) August 29, 2015

catch-up on missing days (last Friday through Thursday) commencing. Will be all caught up by end of day tomorrow.

 

As concerned as some people were with the Galaxy/NYCFC numbers, it looks a lot more encouraging when you look at the share of 18-49 viewers, compared to other sports that aired on ESPN during the week.

http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/espn-ratings-buzz-august-17-23.html

NFL Preseason: Bills/Browns (Thu 8/20: 8:00pm-10:55pm) | 3,874,000 (overall), 1,651,000 (18-49)
MLB Sunday Night: Giants/Pirates (Sun 8/23: 8:00pm-11:45pm) | 1,886,000 (overall), 593,000 (18-49)
MLS: Galaxy/NYCFC (Sun 8/23: 3:12pm-5:15pm) | 452,000 (total), 265,000 (18-49)

So while the exclusive Sunday Night Baseball game in primetime more than quadrupled the afternoon MLS match in overall viewers, the 18-49 numbers were a lot more favorable. The NFL game drew 42.6% of its total audience from the 18-49 crowd, while the MLB game did 31.4%. Galaxy-NYCFC did 58.6%. It would be interesting if we can get an MLB vs Soccer comparison among viewers under 40, under 30, etc.

Same trend when you compare EPL and NASCAR events on NBCSN. While the primetime Sprint Cup race drew 5x a larger overall audience, the morning Man City/Everton match drew strong enough in the key demos to beat a primetime Xfinity race.

http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/nbcsn-and-fox-sports-ratings-buzz-august-17-23.html

NASCAR Sprint Cup: Bristol (Sat 8/22: 7:58pm-10:41pm) | 3,608,000 (overall), 887,000 (18-49)
NASCAR Xfinity Race: Bristol (Fri 8/21: 7:50pm-9:42pm) | 1,256,000 (overall), 325,000 (18-49)
EPL: Manchester City/Everton (Sun 8/23: 10:57am-1:03pm) | 661,000 (overall), 406,000 (18-49)

 

The Canadian numbers have been solid overall ,during the length of the current deal (6 yr/2011-2016) with TSN currently averaging 160k on TSN main channel, which is solid a country that size. I could see MLS getting a 6-7 yr type tv deal for $25-35 mil/yr through 2016-2022 when the the Canadian deal comes up for renewal at the end of the 2016 season. TSN/RDS have a 5 yr/ $200m deal 40mil per year with the CFL. MLS in Canada has half the ratings,but produces almost double the content; CFL 18 games to MLS 34.[/QUOTE]

Meant to say $25-35 mil per year for 6-7 yrs, fixed it.

 

I'd love to know what the 'average' is for sports programming, but I think it is safe to guess that 58.6% is well above it. (Not only that, but the guess here would be that more of the fans who didn't fit the demo were under 18 than over 49.)

 

The Sports TV Ratings guy is back...

Portland v Houston on UDN (August 21 - 11pm): 100k

SOURCE: http://sportstvratings.com/seahawks...able-sports-for-friday-august-21-2015-2/3393/

 

UFC Fight Night on FS1: Holloway/Oliveira (Sun 8/23: 9:00pm-11:55pm) | 796,000 (overall), 426,000 (18-49)

The recent UFC Fight Night drew 53.5% of its total viewers from the 18-49 bracket. I noticed that the Awful Announcing table has only been tracking total 18-49 viewers for a couple weeks. It should be interesting when the NBA and NHL return so we can get a better idea of how much of those sports' viewers are drawn from the 18-49 range. My guess is soccer, basketball and MMA are the only U.S. pro sports in position to see a net gain of 18-49 viewers, between 17-year-olds aging into the bracket and 49-year-olds aging out of it. Every other televised U.S. sport seems to have either stagnated or declined in that key demo.

 

Another solid UDN number. This time for San Jose v LA (August 28 - 11pm): 143k

SOURCE: http://sportstvratings.com/pga-tour...-cable-sports-for-friday-august-28-2015/3426/

I really wish we could get those UniMás numbers.

 

Been a noticeable uptick in the meh Spanish rating numbers for MLS since Dos Santos arrived. MLS Cup there UniMas may break the +1 mil mark for the first time in UniMas.

 

MLS REGULAR SEASON L: SEATTLE/PORTLAND ESPN 04:30 PM 150 0.21 438
http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/showbuzzdailys-top-100-sunday-cable-originals-8-30-2015.html

 

Not bad. beat out Chelsea, Man City, and Arsenal games, but lost quite handily to Swansea – Man Utd.

 

With the Canadian numbers being solid overall so far during the length of the 6 yr/2011-2016 deals with TSN currently averaging 160k on TSN main channel, which is solid a country that size. I could see MLS getting a 6-7 yr type tv deal for $25-35 mil through 2016-2022 when the the Canadian deal comes up for renewal at the end of the 2016 season. TSN/RDS have a 5 yr/ $200m deal 40mil per year with the CFL. MLS in Canada has half the ratings,but produces almost double the content; CFL 18 games to MLS 34.[/QUOTE]

Does anyone know the value of the current Canadian TV deal? I don't think I've ever seen that published.

 

Cable Sports Ratings, Sunday August 30
Sports TV Ratings

ESPN - Seattle v Portland - 438k
Fox Sports 1 - Red Bulls v DC United - 154k
Fox Deportes - Red Bulls v DC United - 24k

 

Isn't there a separate thread for women's soccer? Why not include college soccer TV ratings while we are at it?