El Clásico led the way in viewership this past week as 1.594 million tuned in to beIN SPORTS and beIN SPORTS en Español for Real Madrid and Barcelona’s second league meeting of the season. The viewing figure was up 10% from 1.433 million viewers in their first matchup of the season and down 20% from the corresponding match last season.
Liga MX provided the only other soccer match to break the 1 million viewer mark last week as 1.1 million watched Monterrey take on Tigres on Univision.
Meanwhile, FOX Sports had two big matches last week as the FA Cup semi-final between Chelsea and Spurs averaged 896,000 viewers on the FOX broadcast network and FOX Deportes. Also in midweek, FOX Sports 1 and FOX Deportes averaged 858,000 viewers for the Champions League quarter-final second Leg between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
In the domestic game, ESPN’s broadcast of the Los Angeles Galaxy’s match against Seattle Sounders drew 225,000 viewers, up from 180,000 in the corresponding ESPN broadcast in 2016. On FOX Sports 1, Sunday’s match between New York City FC and Orlando City SC delivered the league’s second lowest viewed match of the season thus far with just 122,000 viewers.
Here are the most-watched soccer games on US TV for April 17-23, 2017:
Average viewing audiences for soccer leagues on US TV:
| Rank | Date | Competition | Teams | TV1 | TV2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4/23/17 | La Liga | Barcelona / Real Madrid | beIN; 488000 | beIE; 1106000 | 1,594,000 |
| 2 | 4/22/17 | Liga MX | Monterrey / Tigres | Univision; 566000 | UDN; 538000 | 1,104,000 |
| 3 | 4/22/17 | FA Cup | Chelsea / Spurs | FOX; 799000 | FOXD; 97000 | 896,000 |
| 4 | 4/18/17 | UEFA CL Quarter Finals | Real Madrid / Bayern | FS1; 439000 | FOXD; 419000 | 858,000 |
| 5 | 4/19/17 | Copa MX Final | Chivas / Morelia | —; — | UDN; 672000 | 672,000 |
| 6 | 4/22/17 | Liga MX | Cruz Azul / Chivas | —; — | UDN; 549000 | 549,000 |
| 7 | 4/23/17 | Liga MX | Santos / América | —; — | UDN; 548000 | 548,000 |
| 8 | 4/23/17 | FA Cup | Man City / Arsenal | FS1; 374000 | FOXD; 128000 | 502,000 |
| 9 | 4/23/17 | Liga MX | Pumas / Veracruz | Univision; 314000 | UDN; 178000 | 492,000 |
| 10 | 4/18/17 | CONCACAF CL Final | Tigres / Pachuca | —; — | UDN; 437000 | 437,000 |
| 11 | 4/19/17 | UEFA CL Quarter Finals | Barcelona / Juventus | FS1; 395000 | —; — | 395,000 |
| 12 | 4/23/17 | Premier League | Liverpool / Crystal Palace | NBCSN; 395000 | —; — | 395,000 |
| 13 | 4/22/17 | Liga MX | Necaxa / Morelia | —; — | UDN; 343000 | 343,000 |
| 14 | 4/22/17 | Premier League | West Ham / Everton | NBCSN; 342000 | —; — | 342,000 |
| 15 | 4/23/17 | Premier League | Burnley / Man Utd | NBCSN; 334000 | —; — | 334,000 |
| 16 | 4/17/17 | Premier League | Middlesbrough / Arsenal | NBCSN; 240000 | —; — | 240,000 |
| 17 | 4/20/17 | UEFA EL Quarter Finals | Man Utd / Anderlecht | FS1; 226000 | —; — | 226,000 |
| 18 | 4/23/17 | MLS | Los Angeles Galaxy / Seattle Sounders | ESPN; 225000 | —; — | 225,000 |
| 19 | 4/22/17 | MLS | Houston Dynamo / San Jose Earthquakes | UniMás; 216000 | —; — | 216,000 |
| 20 | 4/22/17 | La Liga | Espanyol / Atlético Madrid | —; — | beIE; 132000 | 132,000 |
| 21 | 4/23/17 | MLS | New York City / Orlando City | FS1; 122000 | —; — | 122,000 |
| 22 | 4/22/17 | NWSL | Pride / Spirit | Lifetime; 99000 | —; — | 99,000 |
| 23 | 4/23/17 | La Liga | Celta / Betis | —; — | beIE; 58000 | 58,000 |
| 24 | 4/19/17 | UEFA CL Quarter Finals | Monaco / Dortmund | FS2; 49000 | —; — | 49,000 |
| 25 | 4/22/17 | La Liga | Osasuna / Sporting | —; — | beIE; 47000 | 47,000 |
| 26 | 4/18/17 | UEFA CL Quarter Finals | Leicester City / Atlético Madrid | FS2; 43000 | —; — | 43,000 |
| 27 | 4/22/17 | La Liga | Villarreal / Leganes | —; — | beIE; 38000 | 38,000 |
| 28 | 4/21/17 | La Liga | Sevilla / Granada | —; — | beIE; 37000 | 37,000 |
| 29 | 4/22/17 | Bundesliga | Bayern / Mainz | FS2; 32000 | —; — | 32,000 |
| 30 | 4/21/17 | Bundesliga | Köln / Hoffenheim | FS2; 31000 | —; — | 31,000 |
| 31 | 4/22/17 | Bundesliga | Mönchengladbach / Dortmund | FS2; 30000 | —; — | 30,000 |
| 32 | 4/18/17 | Ligue 1 | Metz / PSG | beIN; 7000 | beIE; 20000 | 27,000 |
| 33 | 4/17/17 | La Liga | Alaves / Villarreal | —; — | beIE; 26000 | 26,000 |
| 34 | 4/22/17 | Serie A | Fiorentina / Inter Milan | beIN; 23000 | —; — | 23,000 |
| 35 | 4/20/17 | UEFA EL Quarter Finals | Schalke / Ajax | FS2; 19000 | —; — | 19,000 |
| 36 | 4/23/17 | Bundesliga | Schalke / Leipzig | FS2; 17000 | —; — | 17,000 |
| 37 | 4/23/17 | Serie A | AC Milan / Empoli | beIN; 15000 | —; — | 15,000 |
| 38 | 4/17/17 | EFL Championship | Derby / Huddersfield | beIN; 14000 | —; — | 14,000 |
| 39 | 4/23/17 | Bundesliga | Freiburg / Leverkusen | FS2; 14000 | —; — | 14,000 |
| 40 | 4/22/17 | Ligue 1 | PSG / Montpellier | beIN; 13000 | —; — | 13,000 |
| 41 | 4/22/17 | NASL | New York Cosmos / Jacksonville | beIN; 12000 | —; — | 12,000 |
| 42 | 4/21/17 | EFL Championship | Norwich / Brighton | beIN; 10000 | —; — | 10,000 |
| 43 | 4/17/17 | EFL Championship | Ipswich / Newcastle | beIN; 4000 | —; — | 4,000 |
Comparison of viewing numbers for soccer leagues on US TV:
| League | Average |
|---|---|
| Liga MX | 745,026 |
| Premier League* | 385,786 |
| MLS | 229,875 |
| La Liga | 164,900 |
| NWSL | 90,500 |
| Bundesliga* | 43,414 |
| Primeira Liga | 35,455 |
| Serie A | 25,810 |
| Ligue 1 | 16,846 |
| Championship | 13,938 |
| NASL | 6,750 |
| * indicates number is english-only |
MLS 2017 viewing average compared to previous years
| League | Overall | ESPN | ESPN2 | FOX | FS1 | Univision | UniMás |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 MLS | 229,875 (24) | 266,750 (4) | 272,000 (2) | 346,000 (1) | 200,625 (8) | 1,004,000 (1) | 205,429 (7) |
| 2016 MLS | 254,522 (90) | 290,179 (28) | 201,500 (4) | 658,000 (5) | 154,346 (26) | 509,000 (1) | 223,120 (25) |
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