The Bundesliga’s opening round matchup between Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig averaged 395,000 viewers on the FOX broadcast network making it the most-watched Bundesliga match on an English-language network since November 19, 2016 when Borussia Dortmund faced Bayern Munich, also on FOX.
Manchester City’s 2-1 victory over Newcastle was watched by 870,000 viewers on NBC, down slightly from 876,000 for NBC’s corresponding matchup last season but up from 831,000 viewers for Liverpool’s 1-0 victory over Brighton one week earlier. Through the first four weeks of the season, the Premier League on NBC is averaging 892,000 viewers.
ESPN’s August 26th MLS broadcast featuring Orlando City and Atlanta United drew 305,000 viewers, making it the most-watched regular season match on cable since May 5 when ESPN broadcast the Hudson River Derby to 334,000 average viewers.
FOX Sports 1 continues to struggle with their MLS broadcasts, with last Sunday’s game between Wayne Rooney’s DC United and the popular Atlanta United only drawing 155,000 viewers to the network. MLS broadcasts on FS1 have so far failed to break the 300,000-viewer mark in the 2018 season. FS1 accomplished this feat three times last season.
Here are the most-watched soccer games on US TV for August 22-September 2, 2018:
| Rank | Date | Competition | Teams | TV1 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8/25 | Liga MX | América / Pumas | Univision: 600000 / UDN: 332000 | 932,000 |
| 2 | 9/1 | Premier League | Man City / Newcastle | NBC: 870000 / Unvso: | 870,000 |
| 3 | 8/25 | Premier League | Liverpool / Brighton | NBC: 831000 / Unvso: 35000 | 866,000 |
| 4 | 9/1 | Liga MX | Chivas / Pachuca | Univision: 865000 / —: — | 865,000 |
| 5 | 8/26 | Premier League | Newcastle / Chelsea | NBCSN: 535000 / Telemundo: 277000 | 812,000 |
| 6 | 8/25 | Premier League | Arsenal / West Ham | NBCSN: 537000 / Unvso: 70000 | 607,000 |
| 7 | 9/1 | Liga MX | Tigres / Atlas | Univision: 571000 / —: — | 571,000 |
| 8 | 8/26 | Liga MX | Santos / Cruz Azul | —: — / UDN: 564000 | 564,000 |
| 9 | 8/24 | Liga MX | Atlas / Chivas | UniMás: 534000 / —: — | 534,000 |
| 10 | 8/25 | Liga MX | Necaxa / Tigres | Univision: 495000 / —: — | 495,000 |
| 11 | 9/2 | Premier League | Man Utd / Burnley | NBCSN: 495000 / Telemundo: | 495,000 |
| 12 | 8/26 | Bundesliga | Dortmund / Stuttgart | FOX: 395000 / UDN: 33000 | 428,000 |
| 13 | 9/2 | Liga MX | Toluca / Santos | Univision: 425000 / —: — | 425,000 |
| 14 | 8/27 | Premier League | Man Utd / Spurs | NBCSN: 395000 / Unvso: 17000 | 412,000 |
| 15 | 8/22 | Liga MX | León / América | UniMás: 396000 / —: — | 396,000 |
| 16 | 8/25 | Premier League | Wolves / Man City | NBCSN: 334000 / Unvso: 19000 | 353,000 |
| 17 | 9/1 | Premier League | Chelsea / Bournemouth | NBCSN: 353000 / Unvso: | 353,000 |
| 18 | 9/1 | Premier League | Leicetser City / Liverpool | NBCSN: 351000 / Unvso: | 351,000 |
| 19 | 9/2 | Premier League | Cardiff / Arsenal | NBCSN: 349000 / —: — | 349,000 |
| 20 | 8/24 | MLS | Orlando City SC / Atlanta United | ESPN: 305000 / ESPND: — | 305,000 |
| 21 | 9/1 | Liga MX | Cruz Azul / Veracruz | —: — / UDN: 303000 | 303,000 |
| 22 | 9/2 | Liga MX | Lobos / América | —: — / UDN: 284000 | 284,000 |
| 23 | 8/31 | Liga MX | Puebla / Monterrey | —: — / UDN: 276000 | 276,000 |
| 24 | 8/22 | Liga MX | Cruz Azul / Toluca | —: — / UDN: 273000 | 273,000 |
| 25 | 8/24 | MLS | Los Angeles Galaxy / Los Angeles FC | ESPN: 257000 / ESPND: — | 257,000 |
| 26 | 8/25 | Liga MX | Pachuca / Puebla | —: — / UDN: 249000 | 249,000 |
| 27 | 8/23 | MLS | Houston Dynamo / FC Dallas | UniMás: 244000 / UDN: — | 244,000 |
| 28 | 8/31 | Int’l Friendly (W) | USWNT / Chile | ESPN2: 236000 / —: — | 236,000 |
| 29 | 8/26 | MLS | Portland Timbers / Seattle Sounders | FS1: 235000 / FOXD: — | 235,000 |
| 30 | 8/26 | Premier League | Watford / Crystal Palace | NBCSN: 232000 / —: — | 232,000 |
| 31 | 8/26 | Liga MX | Toluca / León | —: — / UDN: 229000 | 229,000 |
| 32 | 8/31 | Liga MX | Morelia / Querétaro | —: — / UDN: 225000 | 225,000 |
| 33 | 8/25 | Serie A | Juventus / Lazio | ESPN2: 210000 / ESPND: — | 210,000 |
| 34 | 9/1 | MLS | Seattle Sounders / Sporting Kansas City | UniMás: 102000 / UDN: 94000 | 196,000 |
| 35 | 8/22 | Liga MX | Tigres / Veracruz | —: — / UDN: 190000 | 190,000 |
| 36 | 8/25 | Liga MX | Monterrey / Morelia | FS2: — / FOXD: 171000 | 171,000 |
| 37 | 8/26 | MLS | New York Red Bulls / DC United | FS1: 168000 / FOXD: — | 168,000 |
| 38 | 9/2 | MLS | DC United / Atlanta United | FS1: 155000 / FOXD: — | 155,000 |
| 39 | 8/22 | UEFA Champions League | Ajax / Dynamo Kyiv | TNT: 109000 / UDN: ? | 109,000 |
| 40 | 8/22 | Liga MX | Tijuana / Santos | FS1: ? / FOXD: 104000 | 104,000 |
| 41 | 8/24 | Bundesliga | Bayern / Hoffenheim | FS1: 97000 / FOXD: — | 97,000 |
| 42 | 8/29 | UEFA Champions League | PSV Eindhoven / BATE Borisov | —: — / UDN: 88000 | 88,000 |
| 43 | 8/28 | UEFA Champions League | Dynamo Kyiv / Ajax | TNT: ? / UDN: 65000 | 65,000 |
| 44 | 8/22 | Liga MX | Lobos / Monterrey | —: — / Gala: 59000 | 59,000 |
| 45 | 9/1 | Liga MX | León / Pumas | —: — / Gala: 53000 | 53,000 |
| 46 | 9/1 | Bundesliga | Stuttgart / Bayern | FS2: ? / UDN: 51000 | 51,000 |
| 47 | 9/1 | Bundesliga | Leverkusen / Wolfsburg | FS1: ? / UDN: 38000 | 38,000 |
| 48 | 8/25 | Bundesliga | Wolfsburg / Schalke | FS1: — / UDN: 33000 | 33,000 |
| 49 | 8/30 | CONCACAF League | Walter Ferreti / Tauro | —: — / UDN: 31000 | 31,000 |
| 50 | 8/30 | CONCACAF League | Portmore United / Motagua | —: — / UDN: 29000 | 29,000 |
| 51 | 8/25 | Bundesliga | Mönchengladbach / Leverkusen | FS1: — / UDN: 18000 | 18,000 |
| 52 | 8/31 | Bundesliga | Hannover / Dortmund | FS1: ? / UDN: 17000 | 17,000 |
| 53 | 8/29 | UEFA Champions League | PAOK / Benfica | TNT: ? / Gala: 12000 | 12,000 |
| 54 | 8/22 | UEFA Champions League | Young Boys / Dinamo Zagreb | —: — / Gala: 11000 | 11,000 |
| 55 | 8/28 | UEFA Champions League | Dinamo Zagreb / Young Boys | —: — / Gala: 9000 | 9,000 |
SEE MORE: Access our archives of US TV ratings for soccer.
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JP
September 18, 2018 at 12:46 pm
Any chance you are ever going to get the viewership on the following MLS games?
Missing Games
TFC/Seattle 5/19/18 FS1
NYCFC/RBNY 7/8/18 FS1
RBNY/LAFC 8/5/18 FS1
TFC/NYCFC 8/12/18 ESPN
DCU/Orlando 8/12/18 FS1
DCU/NER 8/19/18 FS1
NYCFC/RBNY 8/22/18 FS1
NYCFC/DCU 9/8/18 Univision
Col/ATL 9/15/18 Univision
Chicago/OFC 9/16/18 FS1
I know it’s been said that the ratings are so low that they are not reported. And yet you have UCL games listed with viewership numbers as low as 9,000. I’m confused….
Edwin
September 18, 2018 at 7:27 pm
In Christopher’s defense here I think he was just talking about Ligue 1 ratings
The September numbers will probably get released Thursday podcast tune in. FS1 have been bad with releasing MLS numbers this year I’m not sure what to make if numbers are low as they’ve had no issues releasing really low Bundesliga numbers in the sub 100k range like below: so not sure??
Bayern / Hoffenheim FS1: 97000 / FOXD: — 97,000
Anon
September 15, 2018 at 3:44 pm
Ligue 1 viewing numbers on Bein Sports?
Christopher Harris
September 15, 2018 at 4:04 pm
Unfortunately they’ve been too small lately to make the top 150 programs on TV each day, which is why there are no Ligue 1 games listed.
Jose
September 10, 2018 at 2:59 pm
It is annoying, especially for ESPN FC show. It is better just to listen. The sound comes before the picture.
Jose
September 10, 2018 at 2:24 pm
Does anyone else has a problem with audio/video synchronicity on ESPN +?
Edwin
September 10, 2018 at 2:35 pm
Works fine I watched the Maryland Bowling Green football game Sat for a 3 half hour game only buffered once and was simply solved by hitting pause and play.
Macsimillian
September 10, 2018 at 2:09 pm
Any idea how TNT and BR-app are doing on selling their package to subscribers? I’m quite intrigued by how they’re doing.
Also, any numbers on subscribers to ESPN+ cuz I see more complaints than satisfied customers? Is it just loud complainers or a bad idea?
Edwin
September 10, 2018 at 2:33 pm
Hey Mac I think it’s just loud complainers I saw on a forum some guy state 200k back in June.
I’ve heard 100k on Twitter last month.
https://twitter.com/RichBTIG/status/1027324569286258689
ESPN Plus has around 200k subscribers – Boxing Forum
https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=783862
So if true they are adding around 100k subs a mnth. With College Football games being shown now they probably experienced a huge uptick in subscribers.
Angelo
September 9, 2018 at 11:58 am
Any news on the ESPN Deportes ratings for juventus Lazio,? Also the game was on Rai as well , are there any ratings stats for Rai? Anyway 210k not bad for 2nd week of season. I just feel that Rai takes away a lot of viewers from the us language broadcasts. Also I think a marquee matchup on ESPN flagship station should rate even better.
Christopher Harris
September 9, 2018 at 2:37 pm
We’re not able to obtain TV viewing numbers for games on ESPN Deportes or RAI.