With the Premier League season heating up as well as the increasing interest in the ever popular US Women’s National Team, TV ratings for soccer in the United States were better than usual last weekend.
Specifically, some very interesting numbers included more people watching Sunderland versus Leicester than West Ham United against Arsenal. Who would have thought last year that Sunderland-Leicester would attract more viewers than an Arsenal match?
While the most-watched Major League Soccer game each week is roughly the tenth most-viewed game on US TV, this week’s viewing number for Houston Dynamo against Seattle was far better than previous weeks. The 386,000 number was impressive given the fact that ESPN’s numbers so far this season have been underwhelming to say the least. Compared to ESPN’s regular season average from last year, the Houston-Seattle number was 57% greater than the average.
Also an impressive statistic was the number of people who tuned in to watch Cologne against Bayer Leverkusen. The Chicharito effect helped draw 225,000 across FOX Deportes and FOX Sports 2 combined. For the Bundesliga, that’s a positive step forward.
At the bottom of the ratings, a lot of discussion has been given to the 7,000 who watched Indy Eleven against Ottawa Fury. While it’s not an impressive number to say the least, it’s still better than viewing figures for more popular teams such as Napoli, Leeds United and Borussia Monchengladbach. Plus, Ottawa is hardly a TV market that is going to attract a lot of viewers (Indianapolis, on the other hand, is the 25th top TV market in the US).
See any interesting observations in the list below? Share them with us in the comments section below or our social media accounts.
Here are the most-watched soccer games on US TV from last weekend:
Pos. | Teams | No. of viewers | TV Network | Game time (ET) | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Manchester City vs. WBA | 850,000 | NBC & NBC Universo | 12:30-2:30pm | Sat., April 9 |
2 | Spurs vs. Man United | 663,000 | NBCSN | 11:30am-1:30pm | Sun., April 10 |
3 | Puebla vs. Chivas | 646,000 | Univision Deportes | 5:50-7:50pm | Sun., April 10 |
4 | USWNT vs. Colombia | 622,000 | ESPN | 2-4pm | Sun., April 10 |
5 | UNAM vs. Leon | 549,000 | Univision Deportes | 7:50-9:30pm | Sun., April 10 |
6 | Real Sociedad vs. Barcelona | 537,000 | beIN SPORTS en Español | 2:30-4:30pm | Sat., April 9 |
7 | Sunderland vs. Leicester | 451,000 | NBCSN & NBC Universo | 8:30-10:30am | Sun., April 10 |
8 | West Ham vs. Arsenal | 419,000 | NBCSN & NBC Universo | 7:45-9:45am | Sat., April 9 |
9 | Monterrey vs. Chiapas | 394,000 | Univision Deportes | 8-10pm | Sat., April 9 |
10 | Wolfsburg vs. Leverkusen | 391,000 | FOX & FOX Deportes | 12:30-2:30pm | Sat., April 9 |
11 | Houston vs. Seattle | 386,000 | ESPN | 4-6pm | Sun., April 10 |
12 | Club America vs. Tijuana | 385,000 | Univision Deportes | 6-8pm | Sat., April 9 |
13 | LA Galaxy vs. Portland | 337,000 | FOX Sports 1 & FOX Deportes | 9:30-11:30pm | Sun., April 10 |
14 | Real Madrid vs. Eibar | 331,000 | beIN SPORTS & beIN SPORTS en Español | 10am-Noon | Sat., April 9 |
15 | Crystal Palace vs. Norwich | 325,000 | NBCSN | 10am-Noon | Sat., April 9 |
16 | Espayol vs. Atletico Madrid | 226,000 | beIN SPORTS en Español | 12:15-2:15pm | Sat., April 9 |
17 | Cologne vs. Leverkusen | 225,000 | FOX Deportes & FOX Sports 2 | 11:30am-1:30pm | Sun., April 10 |
18 | Queretaro vs. Toluca | 217,000 | Univision Deportes | 8-10pm | Fri., April 8 |
19 | NYCFC vs. Chicago | 212,000 | FOX Sports 1 & FOX Deportes | 7-9pm | Sun., April 10 |
20 | Southampton vs. Newcastle | 205,000 | USA | 10am-Noon | Sat., April 9 |
21 | Pachuca vs. Tigres | 154,000 | NBC Universo | 9-11pm | Sat., April 9 |
22 | Milan vs. Juventus | 82,000 | beIN SPORTS | 2:45-4:45pm | Sat., April 9 |
23 | Stuttgart vs. Bayern | 76,000 | FOX Sports 1 | 9:30-11:30am | Sat., April 9 |
24 | Schalke vs. Dortmund | 70,000 | FOX Sports 1 | 9:30-11:30am | Sun., April 10 |
25 | Valencia vs. Sevilla | 54,000 | beIN SPORTS en Español | 10am-Noon | Sun., April 10 |
26 | Frankfurt vs. Hoffenheim | 51,000 | FOX Deportes | 9:30-11:30am | Sat., April 9 |
27 | Swansea vs. Chelsea | 40,000 | NBC Universo | 10am-Noon | Sat., April 9 |
28 | PSV vs. Willem II | 25,000 | Univision Deportes | 2:30-4:30pm | Sat., April 9 |
29 | Granada vs. Malaga | 15,000 | beIN SPORTS en Español | 2:30-4:30pm | Fri., April 8 |
30 | Hertha Berlin vs. Hannover | 10,000 | FOX Sports 2 | 2:30-4:30pm | Fri., April 8 |
31 | Indy Eleven vs. Ottawa | 7,000 | beIN SPORTS | 7:30-9:30pm | Sat., April 9 |
32 | Napoli vs. Hellas Verona | 5,000 | beIN SPORTS | 9-11am | Sun., April 10 |
33 | Burnley vs. Leeds | 4,000 | beIN SPORTS | 7:30-9:30am | Sat., April 9 |
34 | Ingolstadt vs. Monchengladbach | 4,000 | FOX Sports 2 | 9:30-11:30am | Sat., April 9 |
Note that viewing figures for soccer games shown on the over-the-air Univision network have not been made available.
HT SportsTVRatings.
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