Video of the USA fans in Kansas City for Usa - Portugal on the Gazzetta dello Sport ( Italy ). http://video.gazzetta.it/usa-portog...mericani/730269a6-faf9-11e3-9157-175572cb16fd
25 million Americans watched USA-Portugal http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/b...up-match-outdoes-world-series-in-ratings.html
That's about 27.4 million in a system that really isn't good at guessing how many watched an event. I guess there is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison for TV & online: WatchESPN set a record with Sunday’s match by averaging 490,000 viewers during an average minute (the closest thing to a TV rating). Overall, ESPN says the game reached a total of 1,373,000 viewers on WatchESPN. Meanwhile, Univision reported that the USA vs. Portugal match nabbed 825,000 viewers and generated 1.5 million views, landing it among the top ten most watched live streams in the company’s history. http://blogs.wsj.com/cmo/2014/06/23...le-streamed-usas-world-cup-tie-with-portugal/ Using the average viewers number, it's still 1.32 million viewers online for a total of 25.8 million watching at any time.
The amount of people watching WC games on television or USA WC matches in particular is a poor indicator of how popular soccer as a sport is in the USA. The attraction to the WC is in the WC itself as an event and that the fact the USA has fielded a decent team that can now compete with the world'a best. It's an attraction a patriotic communal event. It's also the in thing to do to care about the USMNT once every 4 years go to bars and viewing parties and get hyped up. But how many million Americans will watch and follow the Gold Cup and the Gold Cup final with as much passion as the WC? How many million Americans will follow the Hex and WCQ??? How many million Americans will watch and follow the MLS closely???? Sure the sport has arrived and has gained popularity but don't be fooled that it will eclipse MLB or the NBA because people are go-go-gaga over the WC right now.
26m people in Germany watched one of their group games. How many do you think will watch their next qualifier against a team like Finland or something? Hint: Not 26m. Probably 25% of that figure. The World Cup is going to create fans that weren't fans before. It happens every time. The hype and reach of this World Cup could be more influential than any that have passed. The mass of fans is getting larger, making it easier to propagate the growth of the game. If they're watching the EPL on NBC instead of MLS, that isn't a problem either. The key is to create as many soccer fans as possible. The great thing about all this is that every cycle the process becomes easier, because we have a bigger base than before. If I said that there will come a day when the USMNT draws ratings comparable to NFC/AFC championship games (50m), you might laugh and say that it will never happen. 20 years ago, 25m people weren't watching a group stage soccer match. If you think anything is impossible, glance back at history to see how things were for a quick reminder. People are too caught up in the moment to realize how the almost imperceptible change occurs in the background, which is why we continue to get inundated with the same articles from 20 years ago with naysayers writing about the World Cup and whether its going to make soccer mainstream in the US, despite the fact that the needle has been well and truly moving for the last 20 years.
Yes, the WC is a "big splash" event, but the US viewing trends aren't just about American patriotism. Here's an example from the last WC: US TV viewers for WC final (Spain - Netherlands): 24.3M US TV viewers for US-Ghana round of 16 (a Saturday afternoon on ABC): 19.4M Viewers were willing to watch Spain & the Dutch, neither of which has a large number of recent immigrants to the US to bolster the numbers, without any US involvement. Current viewing numbers on ESPN are up 50% compared to 2010, meaning most of the games don't involve US or Mexico. University of Michigan sold out 100k tickets for a Real Madrid & ManU friendly in a day (only 1/2 hour to sell out the UofM allotment). And, while it doesn't help the USMNT much (but it puts money in USSF's pockets), Mexico continues to tour the US drawing huge crowds to their friendlies (over 200k to 3 friendlies before the WC). Brazil has already scheduled two post-WC friendlies here. There is demand for soccer in this country and it continues to grow. Not all of it is going to be for the benefit of the USMNT, but there is certainly a continued upswing of general soccer interest in this country.
Still that is for excitement about the WC and foreign elite European squads (well Man U ain't that elite anymore lol) nonetheless were are those numbers for MLS they cannot even get a fraction of those numbers. MLS cup final in 2013 was the lowest ever at 505k viewers a 44% drop from the previous year. Why you ask because the MLS is irrelevant viewing wise and popularity wise compared to the big 3. The good thing is MLS is expanding and attendance is good they are in the black and not in the red but until the MLS is not a league with subpar talent, play and a league were washed up euros play then it will be the WC and the USMNT team that is cared about and MLS be damned.
To me soccer is only truly strong and deeply embedded In a nation if you have a strong and legit domestic league. Without that then it's just a cool thing to do and get hyped up for every four years. Most of these people who are "living and dying for the WC/USMNT" know nothing about soccer, USMNT, WC, players, tactics, formations or the history of the game. Most haven't watched any club football. 25 million viewers is nice but fleeting.
I would venture a guess that a large percentage of people on BigSoccer, and people who do love the game, who do follow an MLS club or an EPL club or whatever, started off knowing very little and had never seen a club match. How old are you? I'm only 26. I can tell you with certainty that it hasn't been "the thing to do" every four years. 2010 was really a tipping point when the USMNT became a national sensation during the World Cup. In 2006 it was still very much a niche audience. In 2002 we went to the quarterfinals and nobody cared. Will all the people tuning in now tune in to the Gold Cup and World Cup qualifiers? No. But more are tuning in to those events than ever have. Last year's gold cup final was on FOX - like actual, network FOX. How many American soccer fans have vivid memories of having to watch Univision or Telemundo because there was no other way to watch the USMNT? Qualifiers during the hex shattered their previous equivalent ratings records on ESPN and attracted an unprecedented level of buzz and interest. Those who remember the 2002 cycle know that the US once played a qualifier at 10 AM in Washington DC because it was the only time ESPN would put the game on TV. They may also remember that qualifiers for the 1990 World Cup were held at high school stadiums. You're never going to get the whole group of people who get in to the World Cup to follow soccer closely, but the key is to get a chunk each time. And within that chunk, to get a slice that follows the domestic game. That's how growth happens - it doesn't happen all at once. 26 million people watching a World Cup game doesn't mean there are 26 million diehard soccer fans out there, but it means there is a much bigger audience for the game than there used to be.
You clearly misunderstood what was being said. The entire point I made was that bandwagon and casual support apply even in the epicenters of the game, which is why I picked Germany in the first place. That doesn't make those millions of casuals who are watching irrelevant. There are millions of casuals who watch the SuperBowl who will never sit down to watch a regular season game. Where the articles pointing out how the NFL is failing to woo these customers? What the WC does do is makes fans of people who may have not been into the sport, and just as importantly in cases like the US it "normalizes" the sport in a sense that it begins to seep into the public consciousness. That's not to say that every one of those people that watched is going to watch MLS or EPL next season, but what this World Cup has again achieved is to continue to plant the idea that soccer is a part of the fabric of society, and not some foreign curiosity. That is in part why you have seen the sheer panic at the reach of this World Cup from some writers during the tournament.
Beyond Obama, even in the space ( NASA ) has been watched USA - Germany !!! http://mondiali.ilmattino.it/brasile2014/brasile2014_germania_usa_barack_obama/766787.shtml
A columnist in the Boston Globe said: Sports Illustrated media columnist Richard Deitsch suggested that the viewership number for US-Portugal was probably closer to 30 million between ESPN and Univision should all of the out-of-home, probably-bellied-up-to-a-bar viewers somehow be accurately measured. As it turns out, ESPN’s research suggests that’s a very reasonable estimate. A network spokesman said that independent research firms are commissioned to find out how many out-of-home viewers tuned in. Information is unlikely to be available until the World Cup has concluded. But for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa — anyone miss the buzz of the vuvuzelas? — it was determined that out-of-home viewing added 23 percent to the overall audience.
ESPN average viewers per group play game:2006: 1,691,0002010: 2,429,0002014: 3,540,000— Seth Vertelney (@svertelney) June 27, 2014
The stats from the Germany match: The 6.7 rating was still the second highest rating ESPN has gotten for a match in this tournament, beating out the USA-Ghana game. The telecast also ranks as ESPN’s most-viewed weekday, non-holiday, afternoon program on record. Including Univision and the Univision digital streaming platform the game had 14.2 million TV viewers and 4.9 million unique viewers on streaming platforms. http://www.mlssoccer.com/worldcup/2...y-start-usmnt-match-germany-sets-online-highs
I hate it when people say the WC interest is just a temporary thing and that it won't create more soccer fans. The world cup has been the biggest reason for soccer's growth. It is essentially a gigantic advertisement for soccer. It won't convert everyone, but a small percentage will be converted and that is what matters. Over time, this compounds and you eventually get a mainstream sport. Without the World Cup, the EPL wouldn't be getting the ratings it is today, UCL would still get tiny ratings, MLS would have much smaller attendance, etc... Since MLS is still pretty new and has a relatively low quality of play, it will probably be the last thing to notice the WC bump. Most of the new soccer converts tend to check out EPL/UCL/WC qualifiers before trying MLS. The viewership will eventually trickle down to MLS but it takes time and doesn't happen overnight. People (anti-soccer articles) just have unrealistic expectations and/or don't pay attention to the relevant stats.
http://www.cbssports.com/world-cup/...everyone-should-in-a-packed-sweaty-smelly-bar If even the CBS says that.....................
The problem with the survey is that MLS TV ratings don't match those survey results. This seems to be a survey of MLS fans, not the wider soccer fan base.
Supporting the national team and going to bars to drink and watch the games has become a cool thing to do. That's one reason why I think you're seeing such an increase of support. If you aren't into going to the bar with your social circle to have a few pints and watch the game then you're kind of a dweeb. You're missing out on easy social capital. I was at my local pub early before the Portugal game and was just talking to a few random strangers standing near me. Donovan was being interviewed and someone made a comment on how Donovan should have been on the team. The guy standing next to him wearing an American flag T-shirt asked who Donovan was, saying he recognized him but didn't know his name. This guy wasn't even a casual soccer fan but he was there with pint of Stella in one hand and soaking in the atmosphere. Why? Because its cool to do so. And he was cheering just as hard as the rest of us. When JJ scored that belter he was high fiving as many people as he could. I wouldn't for a minute have questioned his passion. It was part patriotism and part of wanting to be part of something that is now considered "cool". Will this guy become an MLS fan? I highly doubt it. I doubt he'll watch another soccer match until the next World Cup.
MLS TV ratings are during NFL, college football/basketball season, NBA/NHL playoffs, baseball. All sports that soccer fans also watch. They polled soccer fans, even casual ones as stated in the article. Soccer fans have a blessing of lots of soccer, but MLS has the knock of being played at the same time as more popular sports too. Lastly, national ratings don't mean everything for MLS because why would I watch a team that is not the one I follow? Therein lies one major issue with national broadcast MLS matches: Becoming a destination TV event.
Anecdotal evidence is meaningless. I was a convert to the sport on the back of watching the 2006 World Cup and getting caught up in watching the final at Nevada Smiths. Now I watch more soccer than any other sport. I saw three separate threads on r/liverpoolfc over the past couple days of other Americans who were converted by this WC and wanted to learn more about the club. Every new fan is a win, you don't need everybody to become an MLS nerd overnight. If someone goes from not watching the World Cup to watching it, that is a win. If someone goes from just watching WC to watching the PL too, that is a win. You mentioned a few times how people thought it was cool to watch soccer. How could that not be a win?
What are you talking about? Does Colombia have a strong and legit domestic league? Does Belgium? Costa Rica? Ireland? Indonesia?