Soccer viewership in the U.S. went from scarce to plentiful in a matter of a week, showing just how powerful club football is when it comes to TV ratings. Just to put it into perspective, soccer viewership on U.S. TV in the week of Oct. 6-12 totaled 1,759,000, while the total for last week more than doubled that of the previous week, recording a staggering 4,146,000.
An average of 904,000 viewers tuned in to watch Manchester City defeat Arsenal 1-0 at home on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET. through NBC. Add the 97,000 viewers that tuned in to watch the game on NBC-owned Spanish-language channel Universo and the total average viewership surpasses the 1,000,000 mark, something that has not happened since the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League final.
Three other Premier League broadcasts screened by NBC Sports Network made it to Showbuzzdaily's top 150 cable originals and network finals on Saturday and Wednesday. Forward Christian Pulisic made his return to Chelsea’s starting lineup and an average of 554,000 American fans tuned in to watch him play. The broadcast ranked 13th on Saturday’s top 150 cable originals and network finals and received a whopping 0.35 viewership rating. The three games averaged 450,000 viewers per broadcast.
Next in line is CBS and its broadcast of their last NWSL Fall Series Game of the Week, which was a blockbuster between the Orlando Pride and North Carolina Courage that ended 3-3. The NWSL had a fantastic viewership turnout throughout the Fall Series games, averaging around 382,000 viewers per broadcast.
CBS ratings for #NWSLFallSeries:
— Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) October 20, 2020
WAS v NJ, 9/5: 381K (104K)
HOU v NC, 9/12: 370K (115K)
NC v ORL, 9/19: 495K (171K)
CHI v WAS, 9/26: 299K (113K)
ORL v NC, 10/17: 366K (139K)
Averages out to 382K per broadcast with 128K in the 18-49 demo.
TUDN was the channel with the second-most total views, racking up 1,224,000 across seven broadcasts. Two of the seven broadcasts screened a friendly between Mexico and Algeria, which ended 1-1, drawing 333,000 average views when adding up both the original broadcast and replay. The remaining broadcasts showed Liga MX matches, with the most successful one being Tigres UANL 2-0 win over Cruz Azul on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. ET. The broadcast earned a 0.10 viewership rating from its 253,000 viewers.
ESPN and ESPN2 broadcasted two Nations League matches and a Serie A match, all of which had less than 150,000 average viewers.
NBC - 1 game - Total views: 904,000
Saturday, Oct. 17
Premier League: Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal at 12:30 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.55
- Average viewership: 904,000
NBC Sports Network - 3 games - Total views: 1,349,000 - Average viewers: 450,000
Saturday, Oct. 17
Premier League: Everton 2-2 Liverpool at 7:25 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.26
- Average viewership: 410,000
Premier League: Southampton 3-3 Chelsea at 9:57 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.35
- Average viewership: 554,000
Sunday, Oct. 17
Premier League: West Ham 3-3 Tottenham at 11:24 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.23
- Average viewership: 385,000
CBS - 1 game - Total views: 366,000
Sunday, Oct. 18
NWSL Fall Series: North Carolina 3-3 Orlando City at 4 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.23
- Average viewership: 366,000
TUDN - 7 games -Total views: 1,124,000 - Average viewers: 161,000
Tuesday, Oct. 13
International friendly: Mexico 2-2 Algeria at 2:30 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.06
- Average viewership: 186,000
International friendly (replay): Mexico 2-2 Algeria at 9 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.06
- Average viewership: 147,000
Thursday, Oct. 15
Liga MX: Necaxa 2-0 Tijuana at 8 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.06
- Average viewership: 163,000
Liga MX: Club Atletico San Luis 2-1 Queretaro at 9:55 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.05
- Average viewership: 113,000
Friday, Oct. 16
Liga MX: Mazatlan 3-2 FC Juarez at 10:28 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.07
- Average viewership: 181,000
Saturday, Oct. 17
Liga MX: Cruz Azul 0-2 Tigres UANL at 9:30 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.10
- Average viewership: 253,000
Sunday, Oct. 18
Liga MX: Pumas UNAM 1-0 Toluca at 12:30 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 81,000
- Average viewership: 0.03
ESPN2 - 2 games - total views: 253,000 - Average views: 127,000
Tuesday, Oct. 13
UEFA Nations League: Germany 3-3 Switzerland at 2:30 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.05
- Average viewership: 143,000
Wednesday, Oct. 14
UEFA Nations League: Italy 1-1 Netherlands at 2:30 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.03
- Average viewership: 110,000
Universo - 1 game - Total views: 97,000
Saturday, Oct. 17
Premier League: Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal at 12:22 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.05
- Average viewership: 97,000
ESPN - 1 game - Total views: 83,000
Sunday, Oct. 18
Serie A: AS Roma 5-2 Benevento at 2:30 p.m. ET
- Viewership rating: 0.03
- Average viewership: 83,000
Projected top-3 audience games in the U.S. Oct. 20-26
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Match details, result and original broadcast info
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Match details, result and original broadcast info
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