It was another disappointing couple of weeks for FOX Sports 1’s MLS coverage as they are averaging just 182,400 viewers through their first five broadcasts of the season despite frequently featuring some of the league’s most popular teams in each of their broadcasts this season. Overall, MLS has seen a 27% decrease in viewership to start 2019, going from 359,571 average viewers through the first three weeks of the new season in 2018 to just 263,091 average viewers in 2019.
Elsewhere, Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat of Manchester United on Sunday, March 10 averaged 1.68 million viewers across all platforms to rank as the second most-watched Premier League match in history on American television. The match saw approximately 7% of its audience watch via NBC Sports.com or the NBC Sports app. The match was far and away the Premier League’s most-watched match on television this season with a quarter of a million viewers separating it from the next most-watched game (Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Chelsea back in January).
Last Wednesday’s Copa MX quarterfinal meeting between Mexican giants Club América and Chivas de Guadalajara delivered 2019’s highest-rated soccer match on cable as 867,000 tuned in to the Univision Deportes Network for the telecast. Three days later on Saturday, the clubs met in the league to deliver the highest-rated soccer match across any network in 2019, averaging 1.5 million viewers on Univision.
| Rank | Date | Competition | Teams | TV1 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3/10 | Premier League | Arsenal / Man Utd | NBC: 1280000 / Telemundo: 331000 | 1,611,000 |
| 2 | 3/16 | Liga MX Clausura | Chivas / Club América | Univision: 1500000 | 1,500,000 |
| 3 | 3/12 | UEFA Champions League RO16 | Juventus / Atletico Madrid | TNT: 408000 / UniMás: 525000 | 933,000 |
| 4 | 3/9 | Liga MX Clausura | Querétaro / Chivas | Univision: 928000 | 928,000 |
| 5 | 3/9 | Premier League | Man City / Watford | NBC: 818000 / Unvso: 62000 | 880,000 |
| 6 | 3/13 | Copa MX | Club América / Chivas | UDN: 867000 | 867,000 |
| 7 | 3/6 | UEFA Champions League RO16 | PSG / Man Utd | TNT: 413000 / UniMás: 334000 | 747,000 |
| 8 | 3/9 | Liga MX Clausura | Club América / Puebla | Univision: 743000 | 743,000 |
| 9 | 3/17 | Premier League | Everton / Chelsea | NBCSN: 479000 / Telemundo: 218000 | 697,000 |
| 10 | 3/16 | Liga MX Clausura | Cruz Azul / Pachuca | Univision: 694000 | 694,000 |
| 11 | 3/5 | UEFA Champions League RO16 | Real Madrid / Ajax | TNT: 291000 / UniMás: 393000 | 684,000 |
| 12 | 3/10 | Premier League | Chelsea / Wolves | NBCSN: 459000 / Telemundo: 157000 | 616,000 |
| 13 | 3/13 | UEFA Champions League RO16 | Barcelona / Lyonnais | UniMás: 562000 | 562,000 |
| 14 | 3/13 | UEFA Champions League RO16 | Bayern / Liverpool | TNT: 454000 / Gala: 94000 | 548,000 |
| 15 | 3/17 | Premier League | Fulham / Liverpool | NBCSN: 476000 / Unvso: 50000 | 526,000 |
| 16 | 3/10 | Liga MX Clausura | Pumas / Morelia | Univision: 510000 | 510,000 |
| 17 | 3/9 | Premier League | Southampton / Spurs | NBCSN: 421000 / Unvso: 56000 | 477,000 |
| 18 | 3/5 | Liga MX Clausura | Club América / Necaxa | UDN: 422000 | 422,000 |
| 19 | 3/17 | Liga MX Clausura | Toluca / Atlas | Univision: 397000 | 397,000 |
| 20 | 3/8 | Liga MX Clausura | Atlas / Cruz Azul | UDN: 369000 | 369,000 |
| 21 | 3/10 | MLS | Atlanta United / FC Cincinnati | ESPN: 354000 | 354,000 |
| 22 | 3/16 | Premier League | Burnley / Leicester City | NBCSN: 325000 | 325,000 |
| 23 | 3/10 | Premier League | Liverpool / Burnley | NBCSN: 298000 / Unvso: 24000 | 322,000 |
| 24 | 3/16 | Liga MX Clausura | Tigres / Querétaro | Univision: 308000 | 308,000 |
| 25 | 3/6 | CCL RO8 | Monterrey / Atlanta United | UDN: 287000 | 287,000 |
| 26 | 3/5 | SheBelieves Cup | USWNT / Brazil | FS1: 278000 | 278,000 |
| 27 | 3/16 | MLS | New York Red Bulls / San Jose Earthquakes | Univision: 274000 | 274,000 |
| 28 | 3/9 | Premier League | Crystal Palace / Brighton | NBCSN: 270000 | 270,000 |
| 29 | 3/15 | Liga MX Clausura | Puebla / Pumas | UDN: 257000 | 257,000 |
| 30 | 3/9 | MLS | FC Dallas / Los Angeles Galaxy | Univision: 244000 | 244,000 |
| 31 | 3/17 | Liga MX Clausura | Santos / Necaxa | UDN: 232000 | 232,000 |
| 32 | 3/17 | Liga MX Clausura | Club León / Veracruz | UDN: 232000 | 232,000 |
| 33 | 3/10 | MLS | Los Angeles FC / Portland Timbers | FS1: 221000 | 221,000 |
| 34 | 3/15 | Liga MX Clausura | Morelia / Lobos | UDN: 203000 | 203,000 |
| 35 | 3/8 | Liga MX Clausura | Veracruz / Santos | UDN: 179000 | 179,000 |
| 36 | 3/17 | MLS | Cincinnati / Portland Timbers | FS1: 178000 | 178,000 |
| 37 | 3/5 | CCL RO8 | New York Red Bulls / Santos | UDN: 173000 | 173,000 |
| 38 | 3/10 | Liga MX Clausura | Lobos / León | UDN: 171000 | 171,000 |
| 39 | 3/9 | Liga MX Clausura | Pachuca / Tijuana | UDN: 145000 | 145,000 |
| 40 | 3/17 | MLS | New York City FC / Los Angeles FC | FS1: 140000 | 140,000 |
| 41 | 3/9 | Bundesliga | Bayern / Wolfsburg | UDN: 118000 | 118,000 |
| 42 | 3/17 | Bundesliga | Bayern / Mainz | UDN: 116000 | 116,000 |
| 43 | 3/14 | Europa League RO16 | Inter Milan / Frankfurt | UniMás: 108000 | 108,000 |
| 44 | 3/7 | Europa League RO16 | Chelsea / Dynamo Kyiv | UniMás: 96000 | 96,000 |
| 45 | 3/14 | Europa League RO16 | Dynamo Kyiv / Chelsea | UniMás: 92000 | 92,000 |
| 46 | 3/6 | CCL RO8 | Independiente / Sporting KC | UDN: 88000 | 88,000 |
| 47 | 3/14 | Europa League RO16 | Arsenal / Rennes | Gala: 72000 | 72,000 |
| 48 | 3/6 | UEFA Champions League RO16 | FC Porto / Roma | Gala: 70000 | 70,000 |
| 49 | 3/5 | UEFA Champions League RO16 | Dortmund / Spurs | Gala: 68000 | 68,000 |
| 50 | 3/7 | Europa League RO16 | Frankfurt / Inter Milan | UniMás: 61000 | 61,000 |
| 51 | 3/18 | Liga MX Femenil | Tigres / Santos | UDN: 61000 | 61,000 |
| 52 | 3/7 | Europa League RO16 | Valenca / Krasnodar | UDN: 50000 | 50,000 |
| 53 | 3/14 | Europa League RO16 | Slavia Praha / Sevilla | UDN: 49000 | 49,000 |
| 54 | 3/9 | Bundesliga | Mainz / Mönchengladbach | UDN: 45000 | 45,000 |
| 55 | 3/16 | Premier League | West Ham / Huddersfield | Unvso: 43000 | 43,000 |
| 56 | 3/12 | UEFA Champions League RO16 | Man City / Schalke | Gala: 42000 | 42,000 |
| 57 | 3/7 | Europa League RO16 | Rennes / Arsenal | Gala: 34000 | 34,000 |
| 58 | 3/14 | Europa League RO16 | Krasnodar / Valencia | UDN: 30000 | 30,000 |
| 59 | 3/16 | Bundesliga | Schalke / RB Leipzig | UDN: 28000 | 28,000 |
| 60 | 3/7 | Europa League RO16 | Sevilla / Slavia Praha | UDN: 23000 | 23,000 |
| 61 | 3/7 | Europa League RO16 | Napoli / Salzburg | Gala: 22000 | 22,000 |
| 62 | 3/15 | Bundesliga | Mönchengladbach / Freiburg | UDN: 21000 | 21,000 |
| 63 | 3/11 | Bundesliga | Düsseldorf / Frankufrt | UDN: 5000 | 5,000 |
| 64 | 3/14 | Europa League RO16 | Salzburg / Napoli | Gala: 4000 | 4,000 |
Align the bloody season with the rest of the world – it’s impossible to follow otherwise. I can follow multiple teams from multiple European leagues because the seasons match.
Football is an emotional game, highs and lows. The fun and misery of the transfer season for all my clubs at the same time,.the start of the season burst of energy, the mid season winter games and a chance to regroup, the spring countdown to the cup finals and league finishes and then ooops there goes MLS starting in March. I can take it not being as good as the Premier League, but I can’t dedicate enough time to follow it out of sync with the rest of my teams. That alone is the biggest complaint from me and a lot of my football friends.
Now that the league is established you have to align it with the major sister leagues around the world – not to mention the idiocy of having the season play through the summer international tournaments.
If you think MLS ratings are low now,try moving to a winter schedule to go up against NFL and college football. Plus there would be serious weather issues in places like Colorado,Utah Toronto, Montreal etc.
Yawn…… not worried we hear these headlines every season but MLS has posted TV ratings gain in 6 consecutive years going back to 2012. It’s too small a sample size to jump the gun, as past seasons have PROVED.
If by chance if MLS actually does post a ratings lost its not a big deal it just means its normal and not immune to the ratings lost that other leagues have shown.
People like to be worry Monkeys and concern trolls. These same people have been no where to be found in the past at the end of the year when MLS has posted another TV ratings gain except to tell us its no big deal while trying to downplay why they were wrong.
Maybe just maybe they’re right this time. But if they aren’t I’d like to see a article no not just one article several articles going the equal way in the other side to balance things out.
Oh BTW Rover MLS has changed it schedule it will be over before Winter even officially starts. They did this to avoid exactly what you mentioned. As in past year ratings would’ve been higher but the NFL season more so that college football completely killed momentum.
Stephen, all the reasons you provided sound like a bunch of excuses than anything else. Get on board with all the differences football has to deal with be the world, but don’t become an emotional dive with your excuses 😛
I noticed this past weeks MLS game FC Dallas v Colorado was carried by both UniMas and UDN?
Will you guys provide numbers for both?
The viewing number listed is for UniMas and Univision combined.
All numbers involving Univision and UniMás always include the Univision Deportes simulcast numbers.
Hi Collin do you have the Univision numbers for the San Jose vs LAFC game?
Yes, I believe it should be up on the site later today.