Viewership numbers for Liga MX remain strong with both of Mexico’s super clubs attracting audiences greater than 1 million. Club América led the way as 1.3 million tuned in to their 2-1 defeat by Atlas on Univision.
Liga MX broadcasts are averaging 735,446 viewers so far in the 2017 Apertura, up from 687,186 during the 2016 Clasura.
While Liga MX thrives, MLS continues to struggle. Both of the last weekend’s nationally televised games failed to draw an average audience larger than 150,000 viewers. That’s the first time this has happened this season after six occurrences in the 2016 season. MLS broadcasts are now averaging just 188,375 viewers on UniMás this season, down 18% from 2016’s final number.
The match that saw Bayern Munich raise the Bundesliga trophy drew 308,000 viewers last Saturday afternoon on the FOX broadcast network making it the second most-watched Bundesliga match on the network of the 2016-17 campaign, behind Bayern and Dortmund’s first meeting of the season in November which drew 426,000 viewers. The over-the-air network has broadcast five games so far this season, with each averaging 312,000 viewers. Also in German soccer, Wednesday’s DFB Pokal semifinal match between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich was watched by 122,000 viewers on ESPN2. It was the first Pokal match available on linear English television this season.
Here are the most-watched soccer games on US TV for April 25-30, 2017:
Average viewing audiences for soccer leagues on US TV:
| Rank | Date | Competition | Teams | TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4/29/17 | Liga MX | América / Atlas | Univision; 1,300,000 |
| 2 | 4/29/17 | Liga MX | Chivas / León | Univision; 1,100,000 |
| 3 | 4/30/17 | Premier League | Spurs / Arsenal | NBCSN; 674000 |
| 4 | 4/29/17 | Premier League | Crystal Palace / Burnley | NBC; 651000 |
| 5 | 4/30/17 | Liga MX | Toluca / Querétaro | Univision; 589000 |
| 6 | 4/27/17 | Premier League | Man City / Man Utd | NBCSN; 425000 |
| 7 | 4/30/17 | Premier League | Everton / Chelsea | CNBC; 336000 |
| 8 | 4/29/17 | Bundesliga | Wolfsburg / Bayern | FOX; 308000 |
| 9 | 4/29/17 | Liga MX | Chiapas / Santos | UDN; 301000 |
| 10 | 4/25/17 | Premier League | Chelsea / Southampton | NBCSN; 211000 |
| 11 | 4/29/17 | Premier League | Hull City / Southampton | NBCSN; 203000 |
| 12 | 4/26/17 | Premier League | Arsenal / Leicester City | NBCSN; 192000 |
| 13 | 4/29/17 | MLS | Orlando City / Colorado Rapids | UniMás; 148000 |
| 14 | 4/30/17 | MLS | Atlanta United / DC United | FS1; 133000 |
| 15 | 4/29/17 | La Liga | Espanyol / Barcelona | beIN; 129000 |
| 16 | 4/29/17 | La Liga | Real Madrid / Valencia | beIN; 128000 |
| 17 | 4/26/17 | DFB Pokal | Bayern / Dortmund | ESPN2; 122000 |
| 18 | 4/29/17 | Liga MX | Tigres / Tijuana | Gala; 116000 |
| 19 | 4/29/17 | NWSL | Portland / Chicago | Lifetime; 84,000 |
MLS 2017 viewing average compared to previous years
| League | Overall | ESPN | ESPN2 | FOX | FS1 | Univision | UniMás |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 MLS | 223,000 (27) | 266,750 (4) | 272,000 (2) | 346,000 (1) | 193,111 (10) | 1,004,000 (1) | 188,375 (9) |
| 2016 MLS | 254,522 (90) | 290,179 (28) | 201,500 (4) | 658,000 (5) | 154,346 (26) | 509,000 (1) | 223,120 (25) |
SEE MORE: Access our archives of US TV ratings for soccer.
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Got UDN numbers for Liga MX or Spanish #’s for EPL/MLS?
The Univision numbers include Univision Deportes.
No NWSL ratings this week?
Not at this time. But I’ll put a request in to NWSL to see if they’re willing to share the numbers moving forward.
Would you be able to provide a link to your sources for these numbers? Just want to know where they’re coming from. Thank you! Much appreciated. 🙂
World Soccer Talk is the source for a lot of the research (through our reporting and contacting the networks). Some of the data is from Show Buzz Daily, which is linked to in the above article.
Perfect. Thank you.