Most-watched soccer games on US TV for August 15-20, 2017

Puebla’s 1-0 road win against Chivas de Guadalajara last week was the first Liga MX match of the Apertura to surpass the one million viewer number as 1.07 million tuned in to watch the game on Univision and Univision Deportes. Beginning with the start of the 2017 Apertura in July, Univision saw some changes to its Liga MX broadcasting schedule, adding two Friday night cable-only broadcasts. Because of this, generally seven Liga MX matches are broadcast live across Univision’s networks leading to slight decreases in average viewership and slight increases in total viewership each week. Through the first month of the apertura campaign, the league is averaging 499,625 viewers from 37 games for a total viewership of 16 million.

The Portland Timbers 2-0 win against the New York Red Bulls last Friday on FS1 ranked as the network’s second-smallest audience for an MLS match on the network in 2017 as just 121,000 viewers tuned in. After a strong month of March to open the 2017 MLS season, FOX Sports 1 has seen a 26% drop off in viewership. During the same period, ESPN has experienced a 20% drop.

In England, Arsenal’s 1-0 loss against Stoke City Saturday afternoon averaged 825,000 viewers on NBC and Universo, down 16% from 990,000 for Brighton’s Premier League debut against Manchester City last week. Sunday’s late kickoff saw a larger decrease in viewership, shedding 47% of its viewers on Telemundo alone as last week’s match did not feature Chicharito’s West Ham United.

Despite no games airing on the FOX broadcast network, Bundesliga ratings are up from the opening week of last year as an average of 83,400 viewers watched compared to just 75,000 in 2016. This is due in large part to FOX’s decision to air five matches on FS1 with Univision’s sub-licensing agreement also playing a significant role. Viewership could also have been affected by NBC’s decision to place many of Saturday’s Premier League matches behind an additional paywall (Premier League Pass).

Here are the most-watched soccer games on US TV for August 15-20, 2017:

Rank	Date	Competition	Teams	TV1	TV2	Total
1	8/19/17	Liga MX	Chivas / Puebla	Univision; 662000	UDN; 407000	1,069,000
2	8/19/17	Premier League	Stoke City / Arsenal	NBC; 778000	Unvso; 47000	825,000
3	8/20/17	Premier League	Spurs / Chelsea	NBCSN; 629000	Telemundo; 185000	814,000
4	8/19/17	Premier League	Liverpool / Crystal Palace	NBCSN; 498000	Unvso; 43000	541,000
5	8/19/17	Premier League	Swansea City / Man Utd	NBCSN; 406000	Unvso; 33000	439,000
6	8/16/17	Spanish Supercopa	Real Madrid / Barcelona	ESPN2; 315000	—; —	315,000
7	8/20/17	Premier League	Huddersfield / Newcastle	NBCSN; 289000	—; —	289,000
8	8/19/17	Liga MX	Cruz Azul / Atlas	—; —	UDN; 285000	285,000
9	8/19/17	Liga MX	Tigres / Pumas	—; —	UDN; 274000	274,000
10	8/16/17	Copa MX	Potros / América	—; —	UDN; 261000	261,000
11	8/18/17	Liga MX	Tijuana / Santos	—; —	UDN; 230000	230,000
12	8/18/17	Liga MX	Morelia / Pachuca	—; —	UDN; 188000	188,000
13	8/15/17	UEFA CL Playoff	Hoffenheim / Liverpool	FS1; 184000	—; —	184,000
14	8/15/17	Copa MX	Cruz Azul / Zapateca	—; —	UDN; 184000	184,000
15	8/20/17	MLS	Seattle Sounders / Minnesota United	FS1; 164000	FOXD; 18000	182,000
16	8/19/17	Liga MX	Leon / Monterrey	—; —	Gala; 153000	153,000
17	8/18/17	MLS	Timbers / Red Bulls	FS1; 121000	FOXD; 17000	138,000
18	8/20/17	Liga MX	Toluca / Necaxa	—; —	UDN; 137000	137,000
19	8/15/17	Copa MX	Celaya / Monterrey	—; —	UDN; 135000	135,000
20	8/18/17	Bundesliga	Bayern / Leverkusen	FS1; 106000	FOXD; 19000	125,000
21	8/19/17	NWSL	Courage / Spirit	Lifetime; 109000	—; —	109,000
22	8/19/17	Bundesliga	Wolfsburg / Dortmund	FS1; 83000	UDN; 18000	101,000
23	8/17/17	CONCACAF League	Alianza / Olimpia	—; —	UDN; 86000	86,000
24	8/20/17	Bundesliga	Mönchengladbach / Köln	FS1; 60000	FOXD; 17000	77,000
25	8/19/17	Bundesliga	Schalke / Leipzig	FS1; 46000	UDN; 20000	66,000
26	8/17/17	CONCACAF League	Walter Ferreti / Plaza Amador	—; —	UDN; 62000	62,000
27	8/20/17	Bundesliga	Freiburg / Frankfurt	FS1; 36000	FOXD; 12000	48,000
28	8/19/17	NASL	Cosmos / Indy Eleven	beIN; 7000	—; —	7,000

Average MLS viewing audiences on US TV:

League	Overall*	ESPN	ESPN2	FOX	FS1
2017 MLS	252,202 (47)	298,941 (17)	220,000 (5)	440,750 (4)	183,450** (20)
2016 MLS	257,683 (63)	290,179 (28)	201,500 (4)	658,000 (5)	154,346 (26)
2017 NWSL	95,176 (17)
2017 USL	19,000 (2)				*English-Only
					**One game missing