
<p>Fans of women’s soccer looking to tune in to one of the top competitions in the world will have to fork over some cash next year. The <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/womens-champions-league-tv-schedule/">UEFA Women’s Champions League</a> will no longer be free to watch – at least not entirely.  </p>



<p>DAZN, the global rights holder for the tournament, have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/may/22/womens-champions-league-to-move-behind-dazn-paywall-next-season" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced that</a> most games will now only be accessible via their subscription service. That service starts at <a href="https://prf.hn/click/camref:1100l4Joc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$19.99 a month</a> in the US. Previously, all UWCL matches have been shown for free on the DAZN YouTube channel. <br><br>Nineteen games remain free on YouTube, including the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final. So it’s not all bad news for fans wanting to watch without needing another subscription.</p>



<h4>Growing the women’s game</h4>



<p>Women’s soccer continues to grow and improve in Europe, and worldwide. That improvement has led to increased interest and visibility. Apparently 14 million more viewers have watched this season compared to last on YouTube.</p>



<p>And crowds continue to turn out for big games in Europe. This year’s Women’s Champions League saw Arsenal fall in the semifinals to Wolfsburg in front of a record crowd. A total of 60,063 fans packed the Emirates Stadium, the biggest crowd ever in England for a women’s club game. Barcelona drew over 91,000 fans in last year’s tournament, also against Wolfsburg, setting the overall women’s soccer attendance record. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-youtube"><iframe loading="lazy" title="THE GAME THAT CHANGED FOOTBALL | Barcelona vs. Real Madrid - UEFA Women&apos;s Champions League" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xbQRflXw9E8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>
</div></figure>



<p>Now the aim is to transform the broadcasting for the tournament into something that drives more tangible revenue into the sport. But after giving something away for free, it’s often hard to convert people into paying customers. It will be interesting to see if enough fans will be willing to pay a (relatively high) subscription fee to watch the competition.</p>



<p>This season’s competition is wrapping up very soon. Wolfsburg faces FC Barcelona in Champions League final on June 3rd in Eindhoven. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-youtube"><iframe loading="lazy" title="DAZN walkthrough" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FH9z7hqT8hs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>
</div></figure>



<p><em>Photo: Imago</em></p>


The UEFA Women's Champions League is shifting to a pay-to-watch model for most games starting with the 23/24 season.

DAZN ending many free Women's Champions League streams - World Soccer Talk

DAZN ending many free Women's Champions League streams


<p>Both Apple and Major League Soccer (MLS) are tightlipped on sharing any metrics about viewership of its <a href="https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.7000?itsct=wst_mls&amp;itscg=30200&amp;at=1010l35s4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MLS Season Pass</a> streaming service. In fact, no data has been made available since its launch. However, despite trying to keep performance numbers secret (even though streaming services such as <a href="https://twitter.com/alexeheath/status/1442604538951729152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1442604538951729152%7Ctwgr%5Ecd49221ae50ead0c48b814bc70578ddef904ae2f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcollider.com%2Fnetflix-viewership-data-most-popular-tv-shows-movies%2F" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Netflix do reveal numbers</a>), we finally do have one metric to share. And that’s the MLS 360 viewership numbers for the MLS Season Pass whip-around show after its YouTube debut.</p>



<p>To date, since debuting MLS 360 on February 25, every episode of MLS 360 has been available on MLS Season Pass, as well as for free to Apple TV+ subscribers. However, for the MLS 360 broadcast on Saturday, May 20, the program was also made available for free to Apple TV and YouTube viewers.</p>



<p>The whip-around program shows live coverage from all of the MLS games on Saturday nights. Typically, that’s 4.5 hours of continuous coverage. The entertaining program captures all of the discussion points, goals and key incidents from every game.</p>



<p>Thus far, MLS 360 has been the hit of MLS Season Pass. But how did the MLS 360 viewership numbers do?</p>



<h2>MLS 360 viewership numbers on YouTube</h2>



<p>As of Sunday night, May 21, the live and on-demand broadcast of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roI7kmNpjB0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MLS 360</a> on YouTube was watched 19,682 times.</p>



<p>MLS 360’s 19,682 viewership number does not include how many people watched it on MLS Season Pass itself. So while it’s incomplete, it’s the first metric that has become available.</p>



<p>Since it is MLS 360’s first broadcast on YouTube, it’s difficult to give an apples-to-apples comparison. But one YouTube broadcast that could compare is the <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/us-open-cup-tv-schedule/">US Open Cup</a> game between New England Revolution and Pittsburgh Riverhounds, on May 9. That single game was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_ZvlkBYUh8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">viewed 24,000 times</a> on YouTube.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-youtube"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Can MLS SEASON PASS for FREE help MLS? 🤔" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XDJS0Ym-NMc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>
</div></figure>



<p>As for the broadcast of MLS 360 on YouTube, it was more convenient to watch it there. For instance, YouTube has an Android app. Plus YouTube is available across almost all platforms, making it far more accessible than Apple TV.</p>



<p>The only issue on the broadcast was during the commercial breaks. During that time, MLS 360 on MLS Season Pass shows ads from the advertising partners that Apple have signed. But during those same breaks on YouTube, the ads aren’t shown. So, instead, you get to watch three minutes of dead air with a picture of an empty studio. There’s got to be a better, more productive way to fill that time with something other than silence.</p>



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MLS 360 viewership numbers are now available for the first time based on a new broadcast, which had previously been elusive.

ALL POSTS TAGGED "YouTube"

UEFA Women's Champions League

DAZN ending many free Women's Champions League streams

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