my only concern is that a lot of these early games on NBCS are seeing some ratings boost from people just wanting to check out how MLS looks on NBC, and they'll not be providing their eyeballs for most of the broadcasts.
Trust me, this should be the least of your concerns haha. A few thousand people who care will barely move the needle.
keep in mind, NBC has a 2nd tier package, so the ratings will naturally be lower than what ESPN gets, regardless of channel distribution.
ESPN gets to pick the best games, and the best games will most likely have higher viewership overall. It's not a huge difference (maybe 5-10%). If NBC sports network was in double the households of FSC, that doesn't mean they will get double the viewership by default. There are other variables (like which MLS package you have), how well known the channel is, etc....
Also include the Spanish package they also get to pick their games, not sure if they are second or third in the picking order. ESPN/ESPN2 they get about 30-32 games per year. Galavision gets 20-24 games. NBCS gets 30-32 games.
"Major League Soccer and NBC Sports on Thursday will announce a new three-year agreement to televise 45 league matches and 4 United States national team games on the main network and on the NBC Sports Network" http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/m-l-s-and-nbc-sports-announce-new-tv-deal/ 40 regular season (38 NBCS 2 NBC); 5 playoff games (3 and 2).
No word on Seattle v. Houston figures yet? Just checking in. Also, I've made a poor attempt at starting a line graph for the network figures this season, but it hasn't turned out the greatest. Perhaps it's because there are so few games on it so far. Anyway, if someone is willing to make a visual, I think we'd all appreciate it. If no one will, I guess I'll do my best at trying to fix the one I have. Thanks.
update ESPN http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/...t-Year-TV-Deal-That-Includes-Rights-Fees.aspx http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/01/05/espn-networks-air-21-regular-season-matches-2012 Galavision http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/01/05/galavision-air-27-mls-matches-2012 The original ESPN contract was for 26 games, I guess that that has been adjusted with more games in Spanish and less in English. Not really sure on the current deal breakdown other than what I read in Wikipedia.
New York vs Colorado on the big ESPN. I doubt it will crack 350K viewers. I really have no faith in New York when it comes to TV ratings.
Re: TV Ratings OK looking at the MLS tv contracts. First ESPN 1994 (I believed it covered 1996 to 1998) "he three-year agreement committed 10 games on ESPN, 25 on ESPN2, and the MLS Cup on ABC. " from wiki 1998 - 2005 ???? 2006. ABC/ESPN signed a 8 year (8-10 million USD) - ESPN2 will televise 26 regular-season MLS matches, primarily on Thursday nights - ESPN2 will televise three MLS playoff matches on Thursday nights - ABC will broadcast three marquee MLS matches - the season-opening match, MLS All-Star Game and The MLS Cup - Televised coverage of the first round of the MLS Draft Now ABC moved their games to ESPN. 9 will be on ESPN and ESPNDeportes 11 will be on ESPN2 and ESPNDeportes 1 will be shown on ESPNDeportes only. Total 21 games; Any playoffs?
A lot of people are incredibly stupid, then. I'm willing to bet that NBCS would be thrilled with a steady average of 150k by the end of the season.
Considering the fact that the NBCS deal was signed as a replacement for FSC, yes. The goal was to improve ratings over what they were getting with FSC, not match ESPN.
150K will be good enough for NBCSN. That would mean MLS is their 2nd most viewed product on the channel. If Union vs Rapids can get 145K, then 150K should be a pretty easy target.
Nope. I believe Indycar is the highest rated product -- getting about 400,000 viewers per race. NHL gets about 350,000. If MLS finishes with 150,000, that will be pretty good for NBCSN but not their best product.
Tim Tebow praying will get 5.6 million, although they will all be a bunch of washed up sports writers who can't think of another topic to cover.
Tim Tebow was bigger than sports, so you'd understand if "washed up sports writers" felt the need to talk about it too.