The 2020 MLS TV thread

I can no longer find ESPN's weekly MLS Review Show on my ESPN + subscription.
Does anyone know if this has been discontinued?

I had watched episodes of the current season as recently as September or October 2020, but no longer a trace of it. It was the 30-minute show comprised of highlight packages for all the week's games.

I still see ESPN FC daily show and the Taylor Twellman show, but not the Review show.

 

How amazing has fox been to mls? Mls cup, in prime time on network tv with pregame show and full trophy presentation. Unthinkable 10 years ago...

 

Last again... And with the least commercial space. *Sigh*

 

The 18-45 rating is the same as Saturday Night Live.

 

The SNL reair from 2017 that was on at 10pm ET* Not the new one at 11:30 ET.

— HotKarlMalone (@HotKarlMalone) December 13, 2020

 

MLS Cup 2020 on Fox averaged 862K.

Last year averaged 823k.

2018 between Atlanta and Portland averaged 1.5 million. https://t.co/yALZ6NbRV1

— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) December 14, 2020

 

Official: The average viewership between Columbus Crew and Seattle Sounders for the 2020 MLS Cup generated 1.071 million viewership on average on over-the-air FOX, dated Saturday, December 12, 2020.

http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articl...able-originals-network-finals-12-12-2020.html

 

Now we wait for the Spanish language numbers.

 

Sometimes it seems like even MLS fans don't watch MLS on TV.

 

1 million is ok... I've seen champions league finals with similar numbers.

 

On Primetime OTA?

If it weren't the lowest rated network program that night, I wouldn't be disappointed, but if we can't draw better ratings than a re-air of any generic show, how big will our tv contract be?

 

The fact that the MLS Cup rating number held serve when sports ratings have fallen pretty harshly this past year .... that's winning folks.

NBA Finals down 49%
NHL Finals down 61%
World Series down 32%

Even the NFL is down almost 10% for the season.

 

147 K on TUDN, plus Unimas ? should be more

 

It is worth mentioning that the 2019 MLS Cup only had 1 US market.. With how dependent MLS's numbers are dependent upon local viewership, just maintaining 2019's numbers likely means there was a drop in comparable ratings.. Not to mention I'm sure the Canadian ratings were basically non-existent without Toronto...

 

Fox viewership for #MLSCup was 1.071 million, 3rd most on English TV since 2010, up 30% over 2019. Top markets:

Columbus 8.2 rating/16 share
Seattle 8.1/17
Cleveland 1.6/3
Portland 1.6/4
Cincinnati 1.6/3

Awaiting UniMas/TUDN data

— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) December 15, 2020

 

Comparison:

Manchester United v Manchester City on Saturday on NBC, Telemundo and NBS Sports Digital averaged 1.3 million viewers. Top-rated markets:
Fort Myers
San Diego
Cincinnati
Oklahoma City
Raleigh
Washington, DC
Philadelphia
Greenville, SC
Chicago
New York

— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) December 15, 2020

 

Just to add a note here.. This is primarily driven by the increase in Columbus's numbers. Seattle had a 13.2 rating in 2019... So there was a 5pt drop in Seattle.

https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-...audience-on-disney-media-networks-since-2014/

 

Just an FYI -- That's a FOX-only number for MLS and a combined NBC/Telemundo/NBC Sports Digital number for EPL.

I wouldn't try to compare those numbers until you get the UniMás/TUDN numbers (and, even then, you'd be missing the FOX Sports app streaming numbers). EPL/NBC do a much better job of releasing their combined numbers all at once, so it often slants the conversation.

 

And here they are.

MLS Cup on UniMás delivered 459,000 viewers, +2% vs. 2019 on Univision and +137% vs. 2018 on UniMás.

So overall, MLS Cup drew about 1.5 million viewers.

Peaked on UniMás at 561,000.

Top markets:
LA
NYC
Houston

— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) December 15, 2020

 

I hope it comes back next season.

 

Interesting that there was a slightly higher share in Columbus than supposedly soccer mad Seattle...

 

A number of people in Seattle have been boycotting the league due to the league playing games during the pandemic. Myself included.