Week 6-USFL: Viewership

The USFL has hit the field. Discuss it here!
Post Reply
4th&long
MVP
Posts: 6475
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:27 pm

Week 6-USFL: Viewership

Post by 4th&long »

Not a good week considering light competition in teams sports, though Golf did well, and bad weather in NE (Saturday only):

Sat 5/20/2023 12:30 PM USA, Peacock Pittsburgh Maulers at Memphis Showboats - 227k

Sat 5/20/2023 4:00 PM FOX Birmingham Stallions at Michigan Panthers - 732k

Sun 5/21/2023 12:00 PM FS1 New Orleans Breakers at Philadelphia Stars - 217k

Sun 5/21/2023 4:00 PM FOX New Jersey Generals at Houston Gamblers - 630k

https://showbuzzdaily.com/articles/sked ... -2023.html

The NJ/Houston game I was hoping to break 700k, NHL game scheduled at same time didn't help but that probably got hurt too as 1.6mm viewers.
Birm/Mich game likely lost viewers to Preakness (5mm).

Broadcast Avg: 681k
Cable Avg: 222k
Averages YTD 653k, Broadcast 832k, Cable 296k

Ironically XFL YTD avg thru week 6 was 652k. The parallels continue.
Last edited by 4th&long on Tue May 23, 2023 11:55 am, edited 3 times in total.
herns
Head Coach
Posts: 1391
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2021 10:53 am

Re: Week 6-USFL: Viewership

Post by herns »

4th&long wrote: Tue May 23, 2023 11:34 am Not a good week considering light competition and bad weather in NE (Saturday only):

Sat 5/20/2023 12:30 PM USA, Peacock Pittsburgh Maulers at Memphis Showboats - 227k

Sat 5/20/2023 4:00 PM FOX Birmingham Stallions at Michigan Panthers - 732k

Sun 5/21/2023 12:00 PM FS1 New Orleans Breakers at Philadelphia Stars - 217k

Sun 5/21/2023 4:00 PM FOX New Jersey Generals at Houston Gamblers - 630k

The NJ/Houston game I was hoping to break 700k
Very meh viewership. I don’t think any of the numbers are terrible but none are great either. Next weeks numbers will be low given it’s so cable heavy
4th&long
MVP
Posts: 6475
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:27 pm

Re: Week 6-USFL: Viewership

Post by 4th&long »

herns wrote: Tue May 23, 2023 11:44 am
4th&long wrote: Tue May 23, 2023 11:34 am Not a good week considering light competition and bad weather in NE (Saturday only):

Sat 5/20/2023 12:30 PM USA, Peacock Pittsburgh Maulers at Memphis Showboats - 227k

Sat 5/20/2023 4:00 PM FOX Birmingham Stallions at Michigan Panthers - 732k

Sun 5/21/2023 12:00 PM FS1 New Orleans Breakers at Philadelphia Stars - 217k

Sun 5/21/2023 4:00 PM FOX New Jersey Generals at Houston Gamblers - 630k

The NJ/Houston game I was hoping to break 700k
Very meh viewership. I don’t think any of the numbers are terrible but none are great either. Next weeks numbers will be low given it’s so cable heavy
Yeah I was hoping for high 200's for cable and while Sunday was a stretch the weather in NE should have boosted Saturday Fox game to over 900, the Preakness likely killed the last hour.

I think the move out of Tampa is hurting some and amount of spring FB. Last year had a primetime game on NBC following the Preakness, the other broadcast games did 785k & 665k, so like 5-6% down. Cable down 20+%

Poor lead ins and lack of primetime. On the field they need to call less penalties - period and allow more Offense. Way too many calls.
laxtreme56
Coach
Posts: 886
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2020 6:16 pm

Re: Week 6-USFL: Viewership

Post by laxtreme56 »

The Fox game just barely topped the WNBA head to head on Saturday and the WNBA game Friday at 11PM Eastern beat every USFL game in the key demo. I wonder if football fatigue has set in, doesn't seem many (any?) XFL fans shifted over to USFL viewing this week.
XFL Crusader
Receiver
Posts: 66
Joined: Fri May 13, 2022 10:17 pm

Re: Week 6-USFL: Viewership

Post by XFL Crusader »

The games are mostly dull. Too many penalties taking away big plays or scores. The refs have been horrendous. Throw in the lack of fans which makes for a funeral atmosphere. The XFL being around this year changed the ballgame.
Stallions and Vipers fan

2022 USFL Champions
4th&long
MVP
Posts: 6475
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:27 pm

Re: Week 6-USFL: Viewership

Post by 4th&long »

laxtreme56 wrote: Tue May 23, 2023 1:20 pm The Fox game just barely topped the WNBA head to head on Saturday and the WNBA game Friday at 11PM Eastern beat every USFL game in the key demo. I wonder if football fatigue has set in, doesn't seem many (any?) XFL fans shifted over to USFL viewing this week.
There most definitely is some football fatigue its going to be 20 weeks of Alt FB. But Saturday also overlapped the Preakness/Golf and that likely costs some and NHL/Golf Sunday... But it was in line with 2022 for day broadcast...
At least they beat the WNBA head-to-head, I may need counseling if they didn't :lol:

I was worried that the presence of two leagues would kill both... I hope I'm wrong but the possibility is rising.
XFL Crusader wrote: Tue May 23, 2023 2:10 pm The games are mostly dull. Too many penalties taking away big plays or scores. The refs have been horrendous. Throw in the lack of fans which makes for a funeral atmosphere. The XFL being around this year changed the ballgame.
Agreed on the penalties - the league needs to get out of its own way on Offensive flags. The fan thing is not the issue IMO (but I've posted on that enough).

Also - I thought set scheduling would help but I do think working around other sports may have been better... Like a 3:30 start vs 4pm against the Preakness. Also they need more Primetime games. Having said that its all mostly week 1 not having a big start pulling down the averages due to XFL overlap. Also moving out of much larger TB for Memphis which did well on TV isn't helping. They have teams in 3 small markets - need to focus on larger ones.

Its looking like the two leagues will be doing similar numbers when its done. Another item to note is NBC does stronger numbers than FOX.

My preseason viewer predictions are off, similar to the XFL's. Now looking at 635-670k. XFL had the winter season to get bigger numbers and under performed, USFL more broadcast but also under performing.
Post Reply