TV Ratings

Most-watched soccer games: Nov. 18-21, 2016

It was a big weekend for the Bundesliga as Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 home victory against Bayern Munich was watched by 426,000 people on the FOX broadcast network, making it the most-watched Bundesliga broadcast of the season so far. The Bundesliga saw another high on Sunday morning as 102,000 people watched Hoffenheim take on Hamburg on FOX Sports 1, the first time a Bundesliga match has averaged more than 100,000 viewers on the network this season. It is worth noting that there was no competition from the Premier League during this window.

On the NBC over-the-air network, the London Derby contested Saturday between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United drew only 642,000 viewers, ranking 6th out of 8 Premier League broadcasts on NBC this season.

In a low point for the Premier League, Monday afternoon’s meeting between West Bromwich Albion and Burnley was watched by only 86,000 people, the lowest for a Premier League match on NBCSN this season.

Liga MX once again dominated American soccer television Saturday night, averaging over one million viewers from 6 pm to midnight on the east coast. Viewership peaked from 10 to midnight ET as nearly 1.4 million watched Necaxa take on Chivas.

Here are the most-watched soccer games on US TV for November 18-21, 2016:

Rank Home Away Competition Date TV1 TV2 Total
1 Chivas Necaxa Liga MX 11/19/16 Univision; 917000 UDN; 476000 1,393,000
2 Tigres Querétaro Liga MX 11/19/16 Univision; 606000 UDN; 188000 794,000
3 Spurs West Ham Premier League 11/19/16 NBC; 642000 Unvso; 49000 691,000
4 Atletico Madrid Real Madrid La Liga 11/19/16 beIN; 158000 beIE; 405000 563,000
5 Man Utd Arsenal Premier League 11/19/16 NBCSN; 491000 Unvso; 47000 538,000
6 Southampton Liverpool Premier League 11/19/16 NBCSN; 476000 —; — 476,000
7 Puebla Pumas Liga MX 11/20/16 —; — UDN; 456000 456,000
8 Pachuca Club América Liga MX 11/19/16 —; — Unvso; 433000 433,000
9 Dortmund Bayern Munich Bundesliga 11/19/16 FOX; 426000 —; — 426,000
10 Middlesbrough Chelsea Premier League 11/20/16 NBCSN; 396000 —; — 396,000
11 Barcelona Malaga La Liga 11/19/16 beIN; 84000 beIE; 294000 378,000
12 Cruz Azul León Liga MX 11/19/16 —; — UDN; 308000 308,000
13 Toluca Santos Laguna Liga MX 11/20/16 —; — UDN; 211000 211,000
14 Hoffenheim Hamburg Bundesliga 11/20/16 FS1; 102000 FOXD; 19000 121,000
15 Sporting Real Sociedad La Liga 11/20/16 —; — beIE; 100000 100,000
16 Canada Japan U20 World Cup (W) 11/20/16 FS1; 89000 —; — 89,000
17 Chiapas Atlas FC Liga MX 11/19/16 —; — Galavision; 89000 89,000
18 Eibar Celta Vigo La Liga 11/19/16 —; — beIE; 88000 88,000
19 West Brom Burnley Premier League 11/21/16 NBCSN; 86000 —; — 86,000
20 Valencia Granada La Liga 11/20/16 —; — beIE; 85000 85,000
21 Athletic Bilbao Villareal La Liga 11/20/16 —; — beIE; 64000 64,000
22 Bremen Frankfurt Bundesliga 11/20/16 FS2; 10000 FOXD; 51000 61,000
23 USA Ghana U20 World Cup (W) 11/21/16 FS1; 55000 ; — 55,000
24 Crystal Palace Man City Premier League 11/19/16 —; — Unvso; 54000 54,000
25 Mönchengladbach Köln Bundesliga 11/19/16 FS1; 43000 —; — 43,000
26 AC Milan Inter Milan Serie A 11/20/16 beIN; 39000 —; — 39,000
27 Wolfsburg Schalke Bundesliga 11/19/16 FS2; 7000 FOXD; 29000 36,000
28 Brazil Sweden U20 World Cup (W) 11/20/16 FS1; 33000 —; — 33,000
29 Atalanta Roma Serie A 11/20/16 beIN; 29000 —; — 29,000
30 Leverkusen RB Leipzig Bundesliga 11/18/16 FS2; 20000 —; — 20,000
31 Deportivo Sevilla La Liga 11/19/16 —; — beIE; 20000 20,000
32 Lorient Monaco Ligue 1 11/18/16 beIN; 13000 beIE; 7000 20,000
33 Real Betis Las Palmas La Liga 11/18/16 —; — beIE; 19000 19,000
34 Alaves Espanyol La Liga 11/20/16 —; — beIE; 8000 8,000
35 Leganes Osasuna La Liga 11/21/16 —; — beIE; 6000 6,000
36 Marseille Caen Ligue 1 11/20/16 beIN; 4000 ; — 4,000
37 Nigeria Spain U20 World Cup (W) 11/20/16 FS2; 4000 —; — 4,000
38 New Zealand France U20 World Cup (W) 11/21/16 FS2; 2000 ; — 2,000
39 North Korea New Guinea U20 World Cup (W) 11/20/16 FS2; 1000 —; — 1,000

2016 MLS TV averages:

League Overall ESPN ESPN2 ESPND FOX FS1 FOXD UniMás/UDN
MLS 276,689 290,179 201,500 46,000 658,000 154,346 34,677 218,038
MLS Playoffs 255,250 241,250 124,000 44,500   178,400   211,750

Most-watched leagues on US TV

League Average
Liga MX 681,512
Premier League 432,955
UEFA CL 399,250
MLS 276,689
La Liga 139,582
NWSL 88,500
Bundesliga 76,160
Primeira Liga 37,833
Serie A 29,423
Eredivisie 28,200
Championship 17,600
Ligue 1 12,625
NASL 7,500

SEE MORE: Access our archives of US TV ratings for soccer.

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