Who Benefits Most From ESPN2 EPL Coverage?

Who may have the biggest smile because of ESPN2’s Premier League coverage? It’s Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports.

With more Americans being introduced to the EPL via the very accessible ESPN2, newly adopted football supporters will be clamoring for more of the quality Premier League football on display. With ESPN2, Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports smartly promoting the kickoff times for matches on all three networks, new EPL fans in the United States will be calling up their cable or satellite operator asking how they can receive those two English football networks.

This will take time and although Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports may not yet see residual effects of ESPN2’s coverage yet, it will. The key will be to bring in major new sponsors to both ESPN2 and Fox Soccer Channel for these games (Setanta has a subscription model so it doesn’t typically feature advertising). That’s why it’s up to us to get as many of our friends and family members interested in the league so we can get the viewing numbers up. Plus, these prospective new advertisers will only have to do a quick Google search to see what a loyal and passionate audience we are — as well as being one of most desirable advertising demographics: males who are 18-34 years-old.

It’ll be interesting to see if Fox Soccer Channel’s Nielsen ratings improve this season after their average of 90,000 viewers per Premier League match last season. As soon as we get those numbers, we’ll share them with you here.