The 2020 MLS TV thread

Any numbers for how MLS did on the FOX mothership last night?

 

TBF though, I've watched some dreadfully produced Championship, Italian, French, Dutch, and Chinese matches. I've also watched some top notch USL, MLS, Championship, Australian, and League 1 matches.

It's hit/miss

 

900,000

 

So, I just realized that between Fox and ABC MLS has 16 matches on broadcast TV. That should help maximize the ratings.

 

All on ESPN+ you mean, I assume. I agree. (OK I'll admit I haven't actually watched any Chinese matches, nor many USL matches, and only one Dutch game- this weekend - which was very enjoyable - didn't know that league was on it). But for the most part, I really like ESPN+.

 

Totally agree, this should be a big point of emphasis for the league, and it's very amenable to league-wide focus. Training, best practices on the technical side, etc.

 

Out of home numbers from Tunity Analytics. They look solid. LAFC continues to be a solid draw averaging 178,490 for their game against Miami. Almost certainly that’s going to be a big TV audience as well.

#OOH audiences for Week 1 nationally televised @MLS games:
@NashvilleSC vs @ATLUTD on @espn@SoundersFC vs @ChicagoFire on @espn@LAFC vs @InterMiamiCF on @espn@TimbersFC vs @MNUFC on @FS1
@MLSPR @ESPNPR @FoxSportsPR @FusaroESPN @SebiSalazarFUT @JakeZivin @Pilla_Talk pic.twitter.com/0WwcT8u0cS

— Tunity Analytics | an iSpot company (@TunityAnalytics) March 2, 2020

 

Is that just English language?

 

Yes, all on ESPN+ ... some of the Serie A matches are shockingly bad production wise. The Chinese and Dutch matches, usually, remind me of the late 90's/early 2000's dish broadcasts just with a clearer picture.

 

They do still seem to be below the XFL, thought MLS might be on the way up, while XFL was just the new league smell. We shall see.

 

I know that XFL tv ratings fell in each week. Not sure how the recent week did. We're all probably still waiting to see at what level viewership of the XFL stabilizes.

 

Yeah, just English language. Tunity also recorded 80,820 for out-of-home viewers. I am betting FOXD got ~100,000. So a solid rating.

The LAFC - Miami game got 178,000 for OOH. The cable viewership numbers should be out tomorrow, and I would guess those numbers will be close to 400,000. That would be a respectable 578k for English language and probably a good -125,000 for ESPND. If I am close in my guess here this will shape up to be a great start to the season.

 

Can't you get this link working? It's hd quality.

 

Yeah those are solid, thanks!

 

ABC (2.024 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.6, #1) held onto the demo crown on Saturday with its presentation of "NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC" (2.024 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T1).

The silver went to CBS (2.897 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T3) with its mix of "FBI: Most Wanted" (2.571 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T6), "Bull" (2.660 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T6) and "48 Hours" (3.461 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T4).

Next up was FOX (0.805 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T3) with the primetime portion of its "MLS Soccer" (0.805 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T6) coverage.

And finally, NBC (2.873 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.5, #2) closed out the night with "The Voice" (2.557 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T4), "Dateline Saturday Night Mystery" (3.491 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T1) and "SNL Vintage" (2.570 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.5, #3).

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/ratings.aspx?id=broadcast_20200229

 

With the caveat that these numbers don't include OOH or Spanish-Language simulcast audiences, here are the TV ratings reported by showbuzzdaily so far (SOURCE):

• ???? -- Saturday at 3:30pm ET (Feb 29), Houston vs LA Galaxy on Univision
• 756k -- Saturday at ET (Feb 29), Nashville vs Atlanta on FOX
• 311k -- Sunday at ET (Mar 1), Seattle vs Chicago on ESPN
• 463k -- Sunday at ET (Mar 1), LAFC vs Miami on ESPN
• ???? -- Sunday at ET (Mar 1), Portland vs Minnesota on FS1

Of note, the FOX broadcast of Nashville vs Atlanta was the highest-rated soccer match of the week (besting a few UCL and EPL matchups).

 

English language I assume. There were some attractive Liga MX games over the weekend.

 

Absolutely, yeah. I should've added that disclaimer.

 

XFL viewership in Week 4 (four games across ABC, Fox, ESPN2, FS1) was down 14% from Week 3

Week 1: 3.12 million
Week 2: 2.05 million
Week 3: 1.61 million
Week 4: 1.38 million

— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) March 3, 2020

 

229k for Portland on FS1, and 195 on TUDN for Houston vs LA.

I posted OOH numbers earlier up thread.

 

Burning up the booth. Welcome @arlowhite, @TMeola1 and @TNTerens! 🎙https://t.co/y4QskSE8xT

— Chicago Fire FC (@ChicagoFire) March 3, 2020

I'd say this is impressive from the Fire. Arlo is great (is he going to call early season games from London?) and Tony Meola has been very nice to listen to on CCL broadcasts.

 

The highest rated soccer match was MLS. It beat the premier league. So not bad.

 

Including OOH LAFC Miami drew 641k for the English language broadcast.