MLS and Apple Broadcasting Deal

[Gene]

Go figure.......

MLS regular season data shows 29% viewership growth over 2024

MLS game viewership on Apple TV and other sources shows the league was up 29% year-over-year for regular-season weekend game audiences this season. In some of the first viewership data to be released publicly, MLS shared with SBJ that it had an average of 3.7 million global viewers for all...

www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

 

[KevinJRogers]

Go figure.......

MLS regular season data shows 29% viewership growth over 2024

MLS game viewership on Apple TV and other sources shows the league was up 29% year-over-year for regular-season weekend game audiences this season. In some of the first viewership data to be released publicly, MLS shared with SBJ that it had an average of 3.7 million global viewers for all...

www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

Hmm. That quote from Paulson is interesting. Maybe they are making money. He certainly seems happy enough.

 

[LionNYC]

Go figure.......

MLS regular season data shows 29% viewership growth over 2024

MLS game viewership on Apple TV and other sources shows the league was up 29% year-over-year for regular-season weekend game audiences this season. In some of the first viewership data to be released publicly, MLS shared with SBJ that it had an average of 3.7 million global viewers for all...

www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

I think they were including all forms of how people could watch MLS which included live streams on EA Sports FC and TikTok.

 

[Marito]

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.

I watch every single game but rarely go to matches at the stadium. I wonder if 1,000 is low as an estimate for people who behave like me.

 

[moogoo]

I watch every single game but rarely go to matches at the stadium. I wonder if 1,000 is low as an estimate for people who behave like me.

I'm in the same boat. Used to be a STH but schedules changed and just wasn't able to make it to many games. The last two seasons I haven't gone to any but I do watch practically every game live.

1,000 seems low to me as well. There is probably a strong contingent who are still fans but just can't make it to games anymore plus all those who have moved away or picked NYCFC as their team simply because they are fans of NYC.

 

[Gene]

FWIW it's the same with us.
Schedules have changed and we just haven't had the time to go to the stadium.

 

[RunningWise]

I stand corrected. Didn’t think there were that many people not attending home games who were seeking it out. I did a bad job of trying to say that I believe the issue with it being on AppleTV and the subscription model is that you’re not going to easily pull in casual fans. I just underestimated the fans who no longer attend matches but still are fans.

 

[mgarbowski]

ESPN/Disney/ABC are in a carriage fee dispute with YouTubeTV so all YTTV subscribers missed a lot of college football yesterday, especially big SEC games.

Big advantage of the AppleTV deal for MLS is not having to deal with this perennial nonsense. All the big sports networks, both national and regional go through this. ESPN regularly showed MLS playoff games before 2023.

 

[Gotham Gator]

ESPN/Disney/ABC are in a carriage fee dispute with YouTubeTV so all YTTV subscribers missed a lot of college football yesterday, especially big SEC games.

Big advantage of the AppleTV deal for MLS is not having to deal with this perennial nonsense. All the big sports networks, both national and regional go through this. ESPN regularly showed MLS playoff games before 2023.

Yes. I missed being able to watch Florida-Georgia because of this, but I am still in favor of YouTubeTV holding the line. They vacuum enough money out of my wallet every month as it is.

 

[mgarbowski]

Yes. I missed being able to watch Florida-Georgia because of this, but I am still in favor of YouTubeTV holding the line. They vacuum enough money out of my wallet every month as it is.

I always side with the carrier over the content sellers in these disputes. Carriers are positionally aligned with the consumer to reduce costs.

 

[moogoo]

mgarbowski Gotham Gator FYI you guys should check out your YTTV membership area sometimes. Click on the manage button. Sometimes they offer deals. In the past they've let me renew for $50 instead of whatever it is currently.

EDIT: i just checked mine and i currently have a $10 off promotion for 6 months.

 

[Gotham Gator]

mgarbowski Gotham Gator FYI you guys should check out your YTTV membership area sometimes. Click on the manage button. Sometimes they offer deals. In the past they've let me renew for $50 instead of whatever it is currently.

EDIT: i just checked mine and i currently have a $10 off promotion for 6 months.

View attachment 14213

Thanks. Yes, I was clued into these deals a while back. Weird, but worth it.

I started on YTTV back in 2018 or so, when it was just $35/month, and offered very little but almost all of what I wanted. Now it is big bloated and $83/month, offering dozens of additional channels, none of which I watch for even a second.

It’s an odd business, television. It currently makes most of its money by forcing you to buy things you don’t want.

 

[mgarbowski]

It’s an odd business, television. It currently makes most of its money by forcing you to buy things you don’t want.

Or buying multiple services to buy one thing you do want.

 

[KevinJRogers]

Every time I watch Ian Paul Joy on the Golazo! show on Paramount+, I can't help but think of how badly Apple/MLS blew it by not keeping the local talent. And then blew it again by not signing him on from the beginning. He's just so good.

 

[413Blue]

Every time I watch Ian Paul Joy on the Golazo! show on Paramount+, I can't help but think of how badly Apple/MLS blew it by not keeping the local talent. And then blew it again by not signing him on from the beginning. He's just so good.

It also reminds me about how poorly they casted the Countdown and 360 shows.

 

[ZYanksRule]

Every time I watch Ian Paul Joy on the Golazo! show on Paramount+, I can't help but think of how badly Apple/MLS blew it by not keeping the local talent. And then blew it again by not signing him on from the beginning. He's just so good.

They seem to have wanted, aside from Taylor Twellman, the most vanilla boring announcers they could find. Guys like Calen Carr who just say nothing except for empty platitudes and cliches.

 

[mgarbowski]

Every time I watch Ian Paul Joy on the Golazo! show on Paramount+, I can't help but think of how badly Apple/MLS blew it by not keeping the local talent. And then blew it again by not signing him on from the beginning. He's just so good.

Ian has agency. Maybe he blew it. I expect he was given an offer when this happened. Why is it not his fault? I’m not saying it is but I don’t think either of us has enough info to judge.

MLS/Apple needs half as many announcers as the prior system did. No national network carries 2 sets of announcers for every game. They kept a fair number.

Joe eventually signed with MLS yet rarely works for them because of his Rangers job. The YES gig was probably more predictable and easier to coordinate with Rangers work.
I think Ian probably wasn’t willing to work for the MLS pay scale. I don’t know what changed there but since he signed he has done very few games also. Maybe it’s scheduling. His CBS presence has grown.

It also reminds me about how poorly they casted the Countdown and 360 shows.

Yeah this has been poor. But no team has as many former players who retired in New York than Red Bulls. It was path of least resistance.

Overall for announcers and studio I think it’s a cost and availability issue. There’s not a major pool of great announcers who know soccer in the US. There’s not a pool of great announcers period. The guys who do non-marquee small market NFL games on CBS and Fox are not that good even.
Most fans prefer home announcers who know their team. But RSN’s are dying because bundled TV monopolies are dying. Some baseball teams have scrambled recently to get deals to deliver local broadcasts. MLS got ahead of it. It’s too bad that they’re not spending money on talkers or production. Personally, if there’s more money waiting to be spent I’d rather see it on the field.

 

[KevinJRogers]

I think Ian probably wasn’t willing to work for the MLS pay scale.

Entirely possible. But if I'm running the Apple side of things and I drop $2.5 billion on the table, I'm not skimping on the people who connect the league to the audience (and vice versa). I want the best I can get. Ian is one of them.

 

[Seth]

Entirely possible. But if I'm running the Apple side of things and I drop $2.5 billion on the table, I'm not skimping on the people who connect the league to the audience (and vice versa). I want the best I can get. Ian is one of them.

I've been watching this discussion go back and forth for a few days, but wasn't it that MLS does all the production and programming and Apple just airs it? That's how I recall the arrangement being, although could certainly be wrong.

 

[Gotham Gator]

I've been watching this discussion go back and forth for a few days, but wasn't it that MLS does all the production and programming and Apple just airs it? That's how I recall the arrangement being, although could certainly be wrong.

You are correct.