jasonm Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 A look inside the numbers for selected weekend events. One rating point equals 1% of the USA's 77 million overnight TV homes in Nielsen Media Research's 56 selected major markets. Cable rating converted to broadcast equivalent. Sources: CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, Nielsen Media Research: For anything to draw less than 1% of U.S. TV households on a broadcast network in a time slot when lots of people are watching is almost impossible. Especially given all the viewers who fall asleep but are still counted because their TV sets are still on and viewers counted from household pets accidentally hitting remote controls. But Major League Soccer somehow overcomes those long odds. The 0.7 overnight rating for Sunday's championship game on ABC likely will translate into a national rating that will keep the streak alive: MLS' title game hasn't drawn 1% of households since 1997. That suggests there are limits to ABC/ESPN's vaunted hype machine, and confirms this trend remains intact: As a spectator sport in America, soccer is the sport of the future — and always will be. — Michael Hiestand MLS Cup on CBC - 65,000 NHL ratings in the USA to compare. 2008 Stanley Cup Finals - NBC 3.2, Versus 1.3 I would like to see how MLS will spin this as a positive. Another reason why the expansion fee of $40 million is a joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeltfc91 Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 if you add MLS Cup on CBC and ABC would it have more views than the CFL cup or whatever its called? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegasAlexandros1555362277 Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 ^^ "the CFL cup"????... wow That CFL cup you can't even be bothered to name is the second oldest trophy in North American professional sports behind "the NHL cup" (can you name that one?). I know this is a soccer forum, but I have a hard time believing people can be THAT ignorant. But I digress... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piltdownman Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 The Midweek, midday UEFA champions league final for a 0.8 http://www.epltalk.com/american-tv-viewership-for-champions-league-final-tops-1-million/2182 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piltdownman Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 Also it should be noted that the XFL went under with ratings of around 2.5 http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2001/04/23/daily2.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeltfc91 Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 I no its the Grey Cup, just making fun of it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 quote:Originally posted by michaeltfc91 I no its the Grey Cup, just making fun of it... Why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masster Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 Lets put this in perspective. MLS Cup is not a huge event. One should not expect huge ratings. People are not used to watching MLS games on ABC on Sunday afternoon. I believe ABC shows 2 games a year, the season opener and the final. Last years final on ABC drew a 0.9. In my opinion, that was a more sexy matchup. New England v Houston was a rematch of the previous year's finalists. It also was a closer, more competitive game. Plus, there was more hype about the league because it was Beckham's first year in the league. Also, they started the game earlier to avoid NFL football. Last year was a 9:00am PST kickoff. This season the kickoff was 12:30pm PST, right up against NFL. The ratings were down 22% to 0.7. Plus the lack of all of the other factors I mentioned above and I don't think that is too bad. LPGA on the same day at the same time on NBC got a 0.7 as well. The average weekend regular season NHL game on NBC gets 0.8 or 0.9. Sure the number isn't great, but it isn't horrible either for a 13 year old league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeltfc91 Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Daniel Why? Because i do not enjoy watching football and feel it is competition to soccer and MLS which is what I want media to be following more. I was just trying to act funny, I guess soccer fans enjoy CFL i dont no. Seriously though, Does any one know which had more ratings because it would be great to compare? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmcmurph Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 Going up against the reigning king of Sunday TV (NFL) is a bad strategy. You would think there would be a 2 hour break between the late afternoon game and the evening game that MLS could get into. See if they could get some Sunday sport-aholics to watch until the next NFL game started. That or if LA found a DEFENSE and made it there with golden boy Becks it might crack the 1.0 barrier! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 quote:Originally posted by masster Lets put this in perspective. MLS Cup is not a huge event. One should not expect huge ratings. People are not used to watching MLS games on ABC on Sunday afternoon. I believe ABC shows 2 games a year, the season opener and the final. Last years final on ABC drew a 0.9. In my opinion, that was a more sexy matchup. New England v Houston was a rematch of the previous year's finalists. It also was a closer, more competitive game. Plus, there was more hype about the league because it was Beckham's first year in the league. Also, they started the game earlier to avoid NFL football. Last year was a 9:00am PST kickoff. This season the kickoff was 12:30pm PST, right up against NFL. The ratings were down 22% to 0.7. Plus the lack of all of the other factors I mentioned above and I don't think that is too bad. LPGA on the same day at the same time on NBC got a 0.7 as well. The average weekend regular season NHL game on NBC gets 0.8 or 0.9. Sure the number isn't great, but it isn't horrible either for a 13 year old league. If accurate, all the numbers you quoted are wretched. Absolutely wretched. Don't know if Grey Cup numbers are a suitable comparison given the establishment of the CFL in the Canadian sports market compared to MLS in the USA sporting market but.... The Grey Cup draws massive Canadian numbers. The CFL's revenue generating market. Massive. On par, and usually substantially better than the best sports viewership numbers in this country for any sport. Whereas MLS's marquis event isn't even a shadow of a blip on the radar in their revenue generating market, the USA. If after 13 years and Beckham mania that isn't a concern for MLS HQ then they are retards. Not unlike the retarded monkeys at NHL HQ who've spent the last 15 years pursuing a lucrative TV payday in the USA market and come up completely flat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 FYI, the Grey Cup attracted 3.65 million (including 1.2 million in Quebec). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morbital Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 quote:Originally posted by MegasAlexandros I know this is a soccer forum, but I have a hard time believing people can be THAT ignorant. Well he is from Toronto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piltdownman Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 Whats interesting is the MLS ratings are about the same as the WNBA. What makes this interesting is they have alot in common. MLS has to compete not only with other sports but also with the problem that people can watch higher quality matches of the same sport on TV. MLS might be more local and accessible for people, but many would rather just watch a higher quality product on tv than come out and support their local team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFC07 Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 quote:Originally posted by jasonm MLS Cup on CBC - 65,000 I try to watch MLS cup on CBC, but it was too boring to watch. Besides, I was too busy watching AC Milan game on that latino channel(TLN). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masster Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 quote:Originally posted by TFC07 I try to watch MLS cup on CBC, but it was too boring to watch. Besides, I was too busy watching AC Milan game on that latino channel(TLN). Nigel Reed is just pathetic. I can't watch anything he does play by play for. He is dreadful. I watched the game on ABC instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piltdownman Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 ABC was a HD, the CBC feed looked like they filded it with a handycam, so i watched the ABC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Well I'd take Nigel Reed's low key, often laconic play-by-play commentary over most American style commentators on other networks any day, especially the US ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 ^ +1 I've got no qualms with nigel's call of a soccer match. I absolutely detest almost every American soccer play by play announcer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masster Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Here is an interesting perspective on poor ratings: http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com/mls-on-espnabc-continues-to-underwhelm/584 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 I have to agree that US networks have a lot to learn about presenting and marketing their coverage of game of soccer and MLS in particular. As far as I am concerned the CBC beats them hands down, they even have a play by play guy and colour man who each know the game like the back of their hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 I have the Grey Cup rating as 3.615 million (English and French combined) in Canada. The MLS Cup drew 65,000 in Canada, and had a 0.9 rating on ABC in the States. I could be wrong on this, but I think 1 rating point is roughly 1,000,000 people. So this would mean that the combined total in North America (not including Spanish language). I like MLS, but they have a long way to go to be considered a sporting property in Canada comparable to the CFL. TFC has done a great job, and there is a lot of TFC interest in Toronto and other areas in the country. But there is still a huge lack of interest in the league in general and it shows in the ratings from the weekend. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masster Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Here is one more blog entry from earlier on in the season talking about the very poor ratings: http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com/mls-tv-ratings-worrying/505 Maybe things are worse than I thought... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonm Posted November 30, 2008 Author Share Posted November 30, 2008 MLS should do some reading on the Arena Football League. They have ESPN owning TV rights and 19% of the league (It may have changed). The league is losing money. But in ten years, the expansion fee was 400,000 to 20 million. Few teams make money and many just fold or move. Now they are looking into a single entity venture with an investment corporation. They are willing to give up control for $100 million. I will be surprised if they last 2 more years. The players are paid less, but have higher attendance and tv ratings than the MLS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 Perhaps worth bearing in mind that MLS had a near death experience in 2001 and the only thing that saved it was the unexpectedly high revenues derived from the Columbus Crew's SSS, which pointed the way to economic viability. I suspect the AFL's problems may be related to using other people's arenas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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