EPL Talk » ESPN2

Fox Drew 243,000 TV Viewers For Man Utd v Chelsea Game

The Gaffer — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:28:20 +0000

Fox Soccer Channel got its highest TV rating for a Premier League match recently when 243,000 viewers watched the January 11th match between Manchester United and Chelsea.

Since October 2008, Fox Soccer Channel has been monitored by Nielsen Ratings. In October, the network had 224,000 TV viewers for the Manchester City against Liverpool match. But January’s match at Old Trafford which saw United winning it 3-0 has been the highest rated Premier League game to date. The Manchester United against Chelsea match was shown at 11am ET.

The 243,000 viewers comes close to beating ESPN2’s average of 261,000 viewers last season for MLS Primetime Thursday. The big difference is that the MLS matches were shown on primetime. And ESPN2 is available to more subscribers than Fox Soccer Channel.

Massive Worldwide TV Ratings Expected for Arsenal v Man United

The Gaffer — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:16:02 +0000

This Saturday night in Singapore, New Delhi, Beijing and Sydney, the sounds of TV sets blaring Arsenal and Manchester United will be heard when the game will be televised live during prime time in Asia and at midnight down under.

For TV producers in Asia and Australasia, it’s a dream come true. Two of the Premier League’s biggest supported sides battling against each other. Last season, one billion people worldwide reportedly watched the match. This year, that number could reach even higher.

For viewers in the United States, the kickoff time isn’t as copacetic. On the west coast, the game will be shown live at 4:45am PT, while it can be viewed on the east coast at 7:45am ET. Perhaps even more crucial for U.S. viewers, the game is only available on Setanta Sports, which is not available on most cable networks.

It’s a shame the game wasn’t on Fox Soccer Channel. Otherwise we could learn how many people watched the game in the States.

For example, the early October game between Manchester City and Liverpool drew 224,000 viewers on Fox. Quite an impressive number when you consider that ESPN2’s average was 253,000 for MLS games in the 2008 season. And ESPN2’s televised broadcasts were during primetime on a network that is in 96 million homes compared with 30 million homes for FSC.

We’ll have to wait until the next massive game on Fox Soccer Channel, which isn’t until Sunday, November 30th when Chelsea plays Arsenal at 11am ET.

While TV ratings for Premier League matches in the United States are climbing, ESPN2’s TV ratings for MLS games have decreased by 12.5% from an average of 289,000 in 2007 to 253,000 in 2008. Fox Soccer Channel’s MLS TV ratings, meanwhile, have averaged a depressing 40,000 viewers per broadcast.

Fox Soccer Channel Almost Beats ESPN2 In TV Ratings

The Gaffer — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:29:07 +0000

Fox Soccer Channel’s first Nielsen Ratings have been released giving soccer fans and advertisers alike a glimpse into how many people watch soccer on the network in the United States.

Here are the figures for the opening weekend of October:

Manchester City v Liverpool, 224,000 viewers
Blackburn Rovers v Manchester United, 199,000 viewers
England v Kazakhstan, 176,000 viewers
West Bromwich Albion v Fulham, 81,000 viewers

And this is how televised games from the other leagues shown on FSC compare to English football:

Juventus v Palermo, 81,000 viewers
DC United v Chivas, 39,000 viewers
Dallas v Toronto, 32,000 viewers

Comparing how many viewers watch soccer games on ESPN versus Fox Soccer Channel, ESPN2’s MLS Primetime Thursday has averaged 261,000 viewers through 23 games this season, so the 224,000 viewers for Man City against Liverpool is pretty close. And remember, the game kicked off at 10am ET on a Sunday. What will be revealing is how many viewers Fox gets when Manchester United or Arsenal plays during the 11am ET kickoff time.

Also interesting is how the televised Premier League games did against similar sports programs for males in the 18-49 demographic. On October 4th, Blackburn against Man United had higher ratings than UFC Fight Night On Spike. October 5th’s Man City against Liverpool match, meanwhile, had higher ratings than NFL GameDay Morning on the NFL Network. On both days, those Premier League matches almost had more viewers than NASCAR shown on the Speed network.

For me, the biggest talking point from these numbers is that Fox is almost beating ESPN2’s ratings for MLS games even though FSC is only in 30 million homes, while ESPN2 is in 96 million homes. Imagine how many more viewers would be watching Premier League football in the United States if (1) the games were shown on ESPN or ESPN2, (2) and the games were shown during primetime.

Of course, it’s impossible for Premier League games to be shown in primetime in the United States, but if an idea such as the Premier League Cup happened and one or more of the games were played in the U.S. during primetime, you have to wonder how high the ratings would be.

What are your thoughts about the above ratings? Are they higher or lower than you expected? Let us know by clicking the comments link below.

ESPN2 Shows EPL Teams Too Often In Champions League

The Gaffer — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:37:27 +0000

I love watching Premier League teams on television just as much as anyone, but I must admit that I’m a bit sick of EPL teams monopolizing ESPN’s Champions League coverage in their Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon timeslots.

This has been happening for a couple of years. I’m sure ESPN thinks that the more often they show Premier League teams that the greater the likelihood that TV ratings will increase, but by doing that they risk losing the neutral soccer fan who enjoys English football but wants to see some of the other great games.

Take this week for example. ESPN2 showed Aalborg against Man United yesterday and will show Liverpool versus PSV Eindhoven this afternoon. Instead of showing these two predictable matches, ESPN2 would have wiser to show Zenit St. Petersburg against Real Madrid, Bayern Munich versus Lyon, and Inter Milan against Werder Bremen.

Why not relegate the matches involving Premier League teams to ESPN Classic and show the bigger matches on ESPN2?

It didn’t used to be this way. A few years ago, the opposite was true where it was pretty difficult to see Premier League teams in action on ESPN on Champions League days. All I’m asking for is a fair and balanced offering of quality football matches that we all can enjoy and learn from.

Spain-Italy Most Watched Match So Far And Other ESPN Euro Ratings News

Jeff Hash — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 02:56:10 +0000

As we head into the final weekend of Euro 2008, ESPN decided to take the occasion yesterday to put out a new press release talking about how the tournament is doing viewership wise through the quarterfinal round. So, what did they have to say?

As noted in the headline, the Spain v Italy quarterfinal shown on ESPN Sunday was the most watched Euro 2008 match before the semifinals. The game scored a 1.4 rating, with 1.39 million homes and 1.91 million viewers tuning in. Given these were two of the highest-profile teams in the tournament, the result doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Overall, in six matches shown on the ESPN, the average rating is a .9, with 835,000 homes and 1.1 million viewers. Compared to the same time slot (2:30-5PM eastern) on ESPN in 2007, this represents an 80% increase in rating, a 90% increase in households, and a 116% increase in total viewers from the network average.

Meanwhile, ESPN2 in 16 matches aired has a .5 rating with 506,000 homes and 635,000 viewers, which respectively represent a 67%, 59%, and 75% increase on ESPN2’s average for the same time slot in 2007. And the online video service ESPN360 has had it’s biggest month in history between Euro 2008, the US Open, and Wimbledon, with eight of the 10 most viewed single events being Euro matches.

As for the one game broadcast on ABC, the Netherlands v Russia quarterfinal finished with a 1.2 rating and 1.84 million viewers according to ratings site TV by the Numbers. Compared to other Saturday afternoon sports broadcasts, it roughly fell in the middle of the pack. The match finished well behind FOX Saturday Baseball and the Men’s Gymnastics Olympic Trials on NBC, but it did finish ahead of the rest of NBC’s afternoon sports lineup and the PGA Tour on CBS.

Overall, the ratings seem fairly positive given this is an event without an obvious American interest and with most of its matches falling in the middle of the workday. Positive enough to ensure its return in four years time, or to cause ESPN to bring in more European soccer? We will have to wait and see. For now, the focus will be on a big finish with Sunday’s soccer doubleheader on ABC, with the LA Galaxy playing DC United in MLS action before the Germany v Spain final.