LOL they have to be rebranding the set top box. They are also announcing the F1 deal this week in Austin. Interested to see what those details are.
MLS and Apple Broadcasting Deal
- Thread starter Fantazma
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ZYanksRule
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What a disaster this Apple deal has been for MLS. It was all so predictable.
I think it's fair to say that idea didn't work.
Marito
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That means it's free for Apple TV subscribers or for anybody?
C'mon, it's easy. If you have Apple TV you get the matches for free. Not Apple TV or Apple TV, but Apple TV.
man i know viewership has suffered massively. but i do like having one place to see all nycfc matches rather than having to get cable or having to get specific packages to get FS1/ESPN/ unimas/ YES to see at least all away games.
Selfishly I much prefer this arrangement for just these reasons, plus I love never having to look for the game or wonder if my DVR recorded it. Sure, I'd love to get Ian and Joe on every game but this tradeoff is more than worth it to me.
The F1 deal with Apple is interesting. Like MLS, everything will be on the AppleTV streaming service, including for F1 many premium feeds such as cockpit cameras, telemetry feeds etc., that you had to pay extra for with a F1TV special subscription. Unlike MLS, you will have to pay for all of AppleTV streaming, but (1) there is no charge on top of that, and (2) you get everything else Apple streaming offers. That will be better for some fans and worse for others. Also, the F1 deal is US only, while MLS is worldwide and F1 was paid a bunch more.
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ZYanksRule
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I already have cable and subscribe to all the sports networks so I feel the opposite. Taking the games off cable where I have to work to see them has been a drag, even though I already had Apple and currently get Season Pass for free through T-Mobile.
I have also had major complaints with the quality of broadcasts by Apple. The announcers (aside from maybe 2 or 3 top teams) are bad, and the visual storytelling from the producers is nonexistent.
i dont think it was MUCH better before (besides our YES network team). as for visual story telling it feels the same not much better before imo.
This is how I feel as well. Aside from Joe and Ian, it's not like the production quality on YES was that great. There was no visual story telling or anything in particular that was an attempt to get a viewer emotionally attached to the team or to a player. Viewing wise, it seems essentially the same to me and at least with home games, we have the option of listening to glenn and matty. glenn is meh but matty is solid at analyzing and providing color commentary.
i also enjoy having all the games in one spot instead of having to hunt them down and/or worry about whether my live tv service is going to have the channel I need to watch a game.
This isn't directly relevant to our guys, but considering our discussion of storytelling, the Adam Silver quote about Dick Ebersol in the lede is gold:
www.hollywoodreporter.com
NBC Hopes That Nostalgia, Tech and a Superstar Talent Pool Can Drive Its NBA Hoop Dreams
More than two decades after it last aired an NBA game, NBC is betting on Peacock and Michael Jordan as launches year one of its 11-year deal for the sport.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
ZYanksRule
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MLS released this graphic today. They claim that across streaming AND linear, the league averaged 3.7 million viewers per week.
If a week had 16 games, that means an average of 231,250 viewers watched each game -- across Apple AND FOX Sports/Spanish TV. And this number is GLOBAL, not just in the US.
And if you assume many of those viewers were watching Miami/Messi games, the actual viewers for each other MLS game is probably far lower.
To put it another way, in 2021 MLS averaged 285,000 viewers IN THE USA ONLY on national TV games when their local package included local networks. They are averaging far fewer viewers now that they are on Apple GLOBALLY.
If a week had 16 games, that means an average of 231,250 viewers watched each game -- across Apple AND FOX Sports/Spanish TV. And this number is GLOBAL, not just in the US.
And if you assume many of those viewers were watching Miami/Messi games, the actual viewers for each other MLS game is probably far lower.
To put it another way, in 2021 MLS averaged 285,000 viewers IN THE USA ONLY on national TV games when their local package included local networks. They are averaging far fewer viewers now that they are on Apple GLOBALLY.
On national TV games. I've heard that some local broadcasts pre-season pass drew fewer than 1,000 viewers, with many drawing less than 10,000.
It's difficult to compare the complicated metric they used in the above graphic to different, incomplete metrics from 2021.
30 teams makes for 15 potential games a week. so the number is around 246k. like 413blue said, it's hard to compare numbers without full metrics and some kind of normalization. their increase is based on last year's numbers, which we'll just have to take their word for it. if it is true, then that's good. I'm sure signing son as helped in the last month or two, to boost those numbers.
They're banking on Leo, I'm sure. His extension just became official. Whether that means there will be no opt-out remains to be seen, but it's a pretty good guess Messi's contract terms are about the same, so it's less likely now (there could be a buyout clause if there's an opt-out, of course — I haven't seen the details yet).
Son and Müller coming into the league should help boost subscriptions too, especially Son.
But I think you're right, 230k viewers or thereabouts isn't enough. They can't be making money with those numbers, can they?
ZYanksRule
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Why did I do math as if the league has 32 teams? I'm dumb. Of course you're right, it's an average slightly higher, though my general point still remains.
ZYanksRule
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I think it depends on the team. I don't think we have a lot (do we have more fans than the Brooklyn Nets?)
But there are teams in MLS with large fanbases. Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, LAFC, Galaxy come to mind. We are probably on the lower-end, but we still averaged around 20,000 fans a game, and it's likely to go up when the new stadium opens. Aside from the fans who come to the stadium every game, do we have a lot of fans who make it a point to watch every single game? No, certainly not. the Yankees averaged around 300,000 viewers a game on YES. We are probably not even 10% of that.
RunningWise
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My thought is that for a home game most of the fans who would watch a team are at the game. And for away games you’re probably pulling viewers from those would would have attended if they were playing at home. So for us I’d guess we have 1,000 or so viewers who are fans for a home game and maybe 15,000 viewers who are fans for the away games. I’d be surprised if there are a lot of viewers who aren’t STH or were STH.
Please don’t hold me to any numbers. My feeling is that most people don’t realize we have this league so they aren’t hunting for the games. As a new STH (year 3 with the team) I had no idea about the team and wouldn’t have looked to watch it on AppleTV. Maybe I would have channel surfed to it on local cable.
Please don’t hold me to any numbers. My feeling is that most people don’t realize we have this league so they aren’t hunting for the games. As a new STH (year 3 with the team) I had no idea about the team and wouldn’t have looked to watch it on AppleTV. Maybe I would have channel surfed to it on local cable.
I tried looking up NYCFC ratings on YES before 2023 and found nothing except the Yankee numbers you cited. I did find that the 2021 MLS Cup Final on ESPN pulled only a 1.5 rating in New York metro, which seems to be somewhere between 100-200k TVs. That's for the MLS Cup final. I would think our regular games on Yes did between 25k and 100k, with lower ratings for home games.
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