If you’ve watched a lot of Premier League football on television this season, you’ve seen plenty of matches involving Burnley and Portsmouth in addition to the Big Four and other teams. Surprisingly, the games involving Burnley and Portsmouth have done quite well in the TV ratings game as we again see from last weekend’s match between Portsmouth and Liverpool, which was shown on ESPN2.
Here are the TV ratings for all of the Premier League games shown on ESPN2 so far this season:
Top Nielsen Ratings for Premier League Games on ESPN2: August through December 12, 2009:
- Liverpool v Aston Villa, 8/24/2009, Monday, 3pm ET, 398391 viewers
- Portsmouth v Manchester United, 11/28/2009, Saturday, 10am, 396995
- Wigan v Man United, 8/22/2009, Saturday, 10am, 374799
- Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur, 10/31/2009, Saturday, 8:45am, 325187
- Manchester City v West Ham United, 9/28/2009, Monday, 3pm, 293600
- Portsmouth v Burnley, 12/5/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 278,078
- Portsmouth v Liverpool, 12/12/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 276,160
- Portsmouth v Everton, 9/26/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 270927
- Bolton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur, 10/3/2009, Saturday, 10am, 265508
- Tottenham v Sunderland, 11/7/2009, Saturday, 10am, 259831
- Chelsea v Burnley, 8/29/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 253934
- Liverpool v Burnley, 9/12/2009, Saturday, 10am, 253779
- Aston Villa v Manchester City, 10/5/2009, Monday, 3pm, 248956
- Liverpool v Manchester City, 11/21/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 236247
- Fulham v Hull City, 10/19/2009, Monday, 3pm, 209207
- Aston Villa v Chelsea, 10/17/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 206886
- Wolverhampton Wanderers v Aston Villa, 10/24/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 204882
- Stoke City v Wigan Athletic, 12/12/09, Saturday, 7:45am, 202,000
- Burnley v Sunderland, 9/19/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 199380
- Liverpool v Birmingham City, 11/9/2009, Monday, 3pm, 182138
- Chelsea v Hull City, 8/15/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 164485
Throughout the season, stay on top of the TV schedule for games featuring Premier League clubs by visiting the Premier League TV guide, which is updated every week.
I thought this match was one of the more enjoyable of the season. Even with the cold and their team dead last in the standings, Pompey fans were out in force, and making themselves heard. It’s the first time I’ve realized what football fans mean when they talk about a “proper” crowd. If I ever manage to get to England, I’ll definitely pay a visit to the south coast and catch a Portsmouth match.
The football wasn’t great, but it was compelling: Liverpool missed so many chances, Portsmouth capitalized on the few they had, and came away with an upset (at least, I saw it as an upset).
If that doesn’t garner some EPL fans in America, I don’t know what will.
Duke, I completely agree. I enjoyed watching the match and was impressed (once again) by the Pompey supporters. I’ve been impressed by Portsmouth all season and they’ve come close in so many games to winning this season, so I’m glad to see they got the well-deserved three points against Pompey.
Based on that performance alone, I would gladly take the 11 players from Portsmouth any day over the 11 players that Liverpool fielded. Yes, Liverpool is awful right now and should do better, but Portsmouth played with a confidence and passion that Liverpool only wish they had right now.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Again, what were the ratings of programming for the same timeslots, pre-EPL-to-ESPN?
I posted that info some time ago. Sorry to say I didn’t write it down and am too lazy to do the research again. If memory serves me, which it seldom does, the ratings were about the same.
This should not be too surprising. Hunting and the outdoor life are very popular across the U.S. It is a niche, much like soccer. I guess the question for ESPN is one of demographics and potential advertising revenue. If things don’t work out from an expense/revenue standpoint I have no doubt that ESPN will drop the EPL like a hot potato. After the World Cup all bets are off.