MLS tv ratings vs Intnl soccer tv ratings

Discussion in 'MLS: General' started by Bayer04fan, Dec 5, 2004.

  1. Bayer04fan

    Bayer04fan New Member

    Aug 14, 2004
    Los Angeles, CA,USA
    I know that MLS always get critcised for having low ratings on tv but I was wondering what are the tv ratings for the ESPN Champs League matches on Tue and Wed afternoons? and what are the ratings for the EPL,Bundesliga, Argentina and Brazil matches on FSW? And for that matter Gol TV ratings?

    People rant on MLS but compared to the competition how do they fare? Do these other matches receive similar ratings here in the US?

    Thankx
     
  2. DAGSports

    DAGSports New Member

    Sep 19, 2003
    MLS typically gets better ratings than any other league on English-language TV. About 200,000 viewers on ESPN 2, vs about 150,000 for the UEFA Champions League and less than 100,000 for anything on FSW.
     
  3. Jasonisimo

    Jasonisimo New Member

    Jun 3, 2003
    Boston
    Ratings do not count attendance at sports bars. I would bet bars are where most EUFA CL matches are watched by many people, given the hour of broadcast and the possibility of viewing other games simultaneously via satellite.

    Also, note that MLS games are shown on ESPN2 on Saturday afternoons, where I think all channels expect many more viewers than on weekday afternoons.

    MLS doesn't actually get more viewers.
     
  4. pc4th

    pc4th New Member

    Jun 14, 2003
    North Poll
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    you way way overestimate the effect of sports bar on EUFA CL. Assuming there are 200 soccer sports bars that broadcast the game and on average about 50 soccer fans that do watch it in each sport bar, that is only about 10,000 more people.

    REalistically, it probably a lot less than that.
     
  5. Jasonisimo

    Jasonisimo New Member

    Jun 3, 2003
    Boston
    They don't have to be "soccer sports bars." Just bars. Bars that are looking for people to buy beer in the middle of a Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon. There's no baseball, no football...nothing but CL soccer.

    I think you are underestimating.
     
  6. delo_pata

    delo_pata Member

    Jan 12, 2001
    Durham, NC
    I'd venture to say that a handful of unemployed yobs hanging out in bars at 2:30 in the afternoon during the work week wouldn't be much in the way of a desirable demographic.
     
  7. Jasonisimo

    Jasonisimo New Member

    Jun 3, 2003
    Boston
    I'd venture you don't know much about this environment at all.
     
  8. pc4th

    pc4th New Member

    Jun 14, 2003
    North Poll
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Bar at 11'30 AM pacific time
    2'30 PM Eastern time.

    If I understand correctly, sports bars are very popular during that time period.
     
  9. pc4th

    pc4th New Member

    Jun 14, 2003
    North Poll
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'd venture that you base your misconceptions about sports bar because you live in Boston, a place that has a large ex-pat from Europe and thus a large number of soccer bars.

    Beside the big cities like NY, LA, Houston, Seattle, etc....it's pretty hard to find soccer sports bar. Heck, in Seattle alone, there are only a few soccer sports bar or sports bar that are pro-soccer in general. I bet there is no soccer bar in Springville, aka small town, USA.

    In addition, regular sports bar might not want to show soccer because there are no soccer fans there. TWo: those sports bars are usally closed at 11'30 AM.
     
  10. Jasonisimo

    Jasonisimo New Member

    Jun 3, 2003
    Boston
    Well, is CL football on television? I guess that changes the likelihood that people will be in the bar. It certainly does where there are lots of immigrants. But Tacoma isn't Boston...
     
  11. denver_mugwamp

    denver_mugwamp New Member

    Feb 9, 2003
    Denver, Colorado
    If you turn a soccer game on in the average US bar, I doubt anybody's going to be watching it. It's more likely that someone will tell you to "turn that crap off". There's no way that a bunch of barflys are going to be watching European soccer in the middle of the day. Most of them would sooner watch Opra or Dr. Phil. Our sport is a niche sport in the US and there's quite a few people who don't like it.
     
  12. Jasonisimo

    Jasonisimo New Member

    Jun 3, 2003
    Boston
    It's my mistake to imply I was talking about "the average US bar."
     
  13. FCNYC

    FCNYC Member

    Jul 30, 2000
    NYC
    You haven't been to a bar in NYC, from with in walking distance of my apt. I can go to around 10 bars that will be airing FSW Sat morning. There is probably 100 in NYC that air soccer sometime during the week.

    I have now idea who has the better rating MLS or EPL but I bet it is close, most of my friends won't watch the MLS.
    I got a good friend in to soccer (MLS), then he switched to the EPL, I tried to sell him back on the MLS but it didn't work. Not sure what the rest of the country is like.
    Plus if you go to Central Park (probably the most popular park in this country) on Saturday morning in the fall 80% of people playing sports are playing Soccer.

    Good night guys.
     
  14. purojogo

    purojogo Member

    Sep 23, 2001
    US/Peru home
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Since international would include Mexico's club league, i'd bet they are #1....Surely their NT games also garner decent ratings.....
     
  15. crusio

    crusio New Member

    May 10, 2004
    Princeton
    If you took New York as an example: If we can get the total ratings attributed to all soccer leagues in a typical week, then we can see the share of the market MLS has compared to it's potential. That said, I don't know how to get those numbers, but they would be pretty telling.
     
  16. Bayer04fan

    Bayer04fan New Member

    Aug 14, 2004
    Los Angeles, CA,USA
    The funnny thing about TV ratings in general is that the rating boxes are handed out to a number of people and then those ratings are extrapulated to suggest what the rest of the nation is watching. It is not very accurate at all IMO. Suppose they give all the boxes to people who hate football, lets say people who live in green Bay. Since the Packers are followed religously, do you honestly think that whatever ratings GB brought in would and could accurately refflect what the masses were watching? I don't think so. If they gave us all boxes then the ratings would be legit IMO
     
  17. christhestud

    christhestud Member

    Jun 4, 2004
    I have no idea what the answer is, but how many boxes are there and how do they choose who gets the boxes? If the boxes are distributed randomly and anyone with a TV is eligible to be assigned one, then the TV ratings are probably pretty accurate. But if it's all NY or LA or more urban markets, things could be off (of course, if they were off in this way, I would imagine it would be in MLS' favor). There are countless other problems that could pop up, but as long as the sample is random then the boxes should be fairly close to accurate.
     
  18. Rocket

    Rocket Member

    Aug 29, 1999
    Chicago
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Anyone know how MLS' ratings on ESPN2 compare to the ratings of "popular" sports like the NHL, NCAA basketball, etc, on ESPN2?
     
  19. denver_mugwamp

    denver_mugwamp New Member

    Feb 9, 2003
    Denver, Colorado
    Here's an article: Many Network Clients Challenge Data, Continue to Raise Questions About Nielson Ratings Methodology

    TV ratings are notoriously unreliable. For the most part, Nielson still bases a lot of their figures on people keeping a TV diary, a method that is 50's technology and subject to abuse. Better methods exist, but the networks and TV stations are not very interested in making the ratings more accurate because we are in a time of declining TV viewing. Telephone surveys are also pretty lame because of people like me who hang up on auto-dialers.
     
  20. crusio

    crusio New Member

    May 10, 2004
    Princeton
    This is true. When you try to prove almost anything using numbers (statisics) it's going to be inherantly misleading. They just don't tell you the complete story. Ratings are just very general guideline as to a shows popularity, no more.
     

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