MLS TV ratings continue to lag

[ag futbol]

According to a report from Sports Business Daily (http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/11/04/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/MLS.aspx), audiences for the 20 matches that ESPN and ESPN2 aired this season dropped 29 percent from 2012 while broadcasts on NBCSN dropped 8 percent from same time period. The 2012 season was the league’s best since its inception in 1996.
http://www.soccerbyives.net/2013/11/executives-interested-broadcasting.html

Still some work to do in this department. Even as a MLS fan, I have to say that the TV product is often unattractive and there is little reason to be interested unless you've watched a team live or retain some kind of personal connection to the club.

[Abou Sky]

Some of the announcer teams are painful to hear.

I have been watching the playoffs because I really like SKC (hate Nielsen though) and it has been alright.

How to draw better television audiences to anything is hard though, I haven't had cable since 2008. I watch all my MLS games on MLS live.

[PopePouri]

The homerism on local commentators is terrible which is why I rarely watch another game outside of TFC.

[pdogg]

Some of the announcer teams are painful to hear.

.....

I watch all my MLS games on MLS live.


I abhor watching TFC games on MLS live as they tend to be the opposing teams commentators. You don't realize how much our own commentators slag on TFC until you hear the undying affection the other teams receive from theirs.

I wish MLS Live offered the opportunity to tap into either the home or away stream.

[prizby]

top 3 commentators in my book are (in no particular order), TSN's (TFC/IMFC/VWFC) Luke Wileman, SKC's Cal Williams, and Colorado's Richard Flemming

there are a few other strong commentators...the problem is the Jason de Vos' of other teams are (as pointed out above) just complete idiot homers who have no business saying a word about what's going on, on the field

I think the games would be better off with just a commentator; no analyst to add stupid, repetitive, uninciteful filler

[Yohan]

Oh God. Fleming is about excitable as a bedtime story. He has literally put me to sleep multiple times

[Pookie]

I see it like I see a sale at a major store.

You have to promote it in advance for the people to show up. You can't just say you are having a sale, tell no one, and expect your numbers to skyrocket.

TV ratings for playoff soccer are the same. How many SportsCentre/Other type shows will actually hype the playoff games? Do the networks that carry them show any advertisements for the games in advance? Does the local media cover it?

Locally, watching Sportsnet I can tell you whether the Phoenix Coyotes won last night as it is shown within the first 10 minutes but I had no clue that Montreal played and they lost.

[ag futbol]

The homerism on local commentators is terrible which is why I rarely watch another game outside of TFC.
Great point. I really like the NFL model where you have league commentators on national stations.

I wish every league would do this. Homer commentators get old quickly

[rocktml]

Beckham effect

[Beach_Red]

I see it like I see a sale at a major store.

You have to promote it in advance for the people to show up. You can't just say you are having a sale, tell no one, and expect your numbers to skyrocket.

TV ratings for playoff soccer are the same. How many SportsCentre/Other type shows will actually hype the playoff games? Do the networks that carry them show any advertisements for the games in advance? Does the local media cover it?

Locally, watching Sportsnet I can tell you whether the Phoenix Coyotes won last night as it is shown within the first 10 minutes but I had no clue that Montreal played and they lost.

Well, maybe not a "major" store. There's a lot of competition for those spots on TV.

[ensco]

Beckham effect

Yup.

Also a lot depends on exactly what these matches go head to head with. ESPN had a number of games go head to head with Sunday Night Football, don't know how true that was last year.

Re playoffs: this league has a major problem showcasing the playoffs. Americans understand the playoffs, the games last night were great, but they were not on US network TV (i.e. ESPN or NBCSN), they were on minnow stations that you need satellite or expensive packages to get.

[ag futbol]

The format of the playoffs deserves some discussion IMO. To me it looks like they've squeezed in extra games in the hunt for revenue and diluted the whole thing beyond comprehension. It needs to be tightened up and streamlined.

Either do a straight up league format or include a small number of teams in the post season. Right now it just seems like death by disinterest, everything takes too damn long

[jloome]

The format of the playoffs deserves some discussion IMO. To me it looks like they've squeezed in extra games in the hunt for revenue and diluted the whole thing beyond comprehension. It needs to be tightened up and streamlined.

Either do a straight up league format or include a small number of teams in the post season. Right now it just seems like death by disinterest, everything takes too damn long

Yeah, I sort of agree. I actually enjoy the playoffs but have never seen the logic in using a full season to create a bracket. The Supporters' shield should be the most important award and they could run the playoffs using a seeding system starting at an earlier point, so that in effect they have a league title and two cups.

THey could still call it the "playoffs" to appease people who dig that, but it would help the league's premier title avoid competition with college football and other sports.

[Beach_Red]

However it gets structured it's going to be a tough sell. After following this league since TFC started I still can't get a feel for it. I do think it will be tough to sell the Supporters' Shield as the most important award in a culture that really prefers head-to-head championships but now I think until that's done and the playoffs eliminated the idea of it will always be hanging around. This league feels like it's niether here nor there, so to speak.

[Haddy]

I abhor watching TFC games on MLS live as they tend to be the opposing teams commentators. You don't realize how much our own commentators slag on TFC until you hear the undying affection the other teams receive from theirs.

I wish MLS Live offered the opportunity to tap into either the home or away stream.

Live encoding farm is more than likely somewhere in the U.S. with little to no access of Canadian feed inputs. Shaw Direct satellites work as far south as Florida, but I don't think they even realize that or care.

and last night when the match was cut off heading in to overtime, that was because the encoder was pre-programmed with no one manually ready to adjust for OT. They more than likely found out about that error when they arrived at work this morning.

but for what you pay, you should have much better service/options

[Pint]

In terms of general TV ratings... it doesn't surprise me. What were the main draws to watch this year for the casual fan?

No Beckham, anyone who wants to see Henry/Keane has already, top socrers are on canadian teams and are either Italian or are a unknown Brazilian.

So what is the headline to bring in the casual fan to watch?

We simply didn't have one... the big games this year in the USA were WCQ games

[CSO_BBTB]

Beckham effect

Strange how that never seems to be mentioned and the other thing to watch is whether it's only English language broadcasts that are being analyzed. A lot of the viewership for MLS south of the border is on the Spanish language channels.

[Yagbod]

Yeah, I sort of agree. I actually enjoy the playoffs but have never seen the logic in using a full season to create a bracket. The Supporters' shield should be the most important award and they could run the playoffs using a seeding system starting at an earlier point, so that in effect they have a league title and two cups.

THey could still call it the "playoffs" to appease people who dig that, but it would help the league's premier title avoid competition with college football and other sports.

^Agree 100%.

[Detroit_TFC]

The home and away format in conf semis developed because people whined (among other reasons) that the conf semi knockout didn't give full measure of what the two teams could do. I can understand that but after this year's performances in the first legs I'm leaning back towards knockouts.

What I'd REALLY like to see is a completely separate post-regular season tournament involving all the teams, seeded by regular season performance - essentially a knockout league cup competition. There would be two brackets by conf (since there won't be any way around that until Garber leaves) and there would be some 1st round byes for bracketing purposes. A competition like that focuses on end-of-season form and could be called play-offs for those who dig that but it really isn't since everyone is in. I think this is similar but not the same as what's been suggested.

[Initial B]

Conferences aren't going anywhere. MLS covers as much ground as continental Europe (if anything, there might be more conferences added in the future). The real playoff problem is that there isn't much time before winter sets in. If they want to keep their playoff format and the current number of regular season games intact, they need to complete the playoffs in 3 weeks:
Week 1: Wed - Play in round, Sat - Conf semi leg 1
Week 2: Wed - Conf semi leg 2, Sat - Conf Final leg 1
Week 3: Wed - Conf Final leg 2, Sat - MLS Cup (neutral site)
The Neutral site should be somewhere warm, central, and the league should pay to have 400 supporters of the playing team to be bused/flown to that city to add some atmosphere that will look good on TV.

The economics make sense to keep teams in their timezones to minimize travel and maximize TV revenue by setting the games at a reasonable hours for fans to watch. MLS needs to lay claim to Wednesday (or Tuesday) and Saturday evenings with game times starting at 6:35 or 7:35pm, depending on the time zone.