Wk 5 Viewership

[4th&long]

>> #UFL2024 Week 5 TV Ratings (Average Viewership)
Saturday April 27
Birmingham-Houston/San Antonio-Arlington Regional Broadcast (FOX): 777,000

Sunday April 28 
St.Louis-D.C: (ESPN): 688,000 
Memphis-Michigan: (FOX): 731,000 <<

Got solid numbers Sunday - net-net right on prediction but Saturday night was a disappointment - Houston blowout was not the right choice for the regionalization primary (89% vs 11% for the much better game AR v SA)

 

[laxtreme56]

A bit disappointing especially for Saturday night regional coverage. None of the games were particularly close this weekend which didn't help matters I'm sure. A very slight increase over last week's numbers but honestly should have been more since we traded FS1 for ESPN proper.

[4th&long]

A bit disappointing especially for Saturday night regional coverage. None of the games were particularly close this weekend which didn't help matters I'm sure. A very slight increase over last week's numbers but honestly should have been more since we traded FS1 for ESPN proper.

I think FOX went all in on Birm and if they were playing one of the other top 3 I could see that.  But AR is keeping games close; a 15-15 game going into 4th qtr would have likely resulted in a better hold.  Just being risk adverse the game should have been at least 60/40 regional split.

I'd consider 850k under performing and over 950k performing - so 777k was well under-performing.  Now granted that was against Celts at 6pm and LeBum/Lakers at 8:30pm on ABC - its possible FOX lost people at the half for Lakers.    Good news is Lakers GONE now.
Also the Big market - HOUSTON - was the team getting beat.

[EDIT - Saturday’s Nuggets-Lakers Game 4 averaged a 3.0 and 5.67 million on ABC, the largest audience of the NBA season and up a third and 34% respectively from a late night Grizzlies-Lakers game on ESPN last year (2.2, 4.23M).]

  https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2024/0 ... ts-lakers/

They really can't afford these primetime games to come up short - even with NBA and NHL playoffs as competition.

Ironically the Sunday (better game) Mich-Memphis which was played on a beautiful Sunday across much of the country got 731k during the day!

For my full season forecast -This was my last big week with a Million plus in any game, in fact I have no game breaking 900k.  The average for this week was 732k.  My forecast for the rest of the regular season games is 734k average all games. Which gets my Full season forecast with playoffs slightly over 800k, abot 30% increase over 2023 (both or either league).

[laxtreme56]

What are we averaging over the first 5 weeks so far?

[4th&long]

XFL 2023 same dates:
Saturday, April 29, 2023    7:00PM - ESPN - 675k Playoff
Sunday, April 30, 2023    3:00PM - ESPN - 478k Playoff

Avg 576k

USFL 2023 same dates:

Sat  4/29/2023     12:30 PM             USA, Peacock     New Orleans Breakers at Birmingham Stallions - 293k
Sat  4/29/2023     7:00 PM               FOX                    Memphis Showboats at Houston Gamblers - 776k
Sun  4/30/2023    12:00 PM             NBC, Peacock    Pittsburgh Maulers at Philadelphia Stars - 761k
Sun  4/30/2023    4:00 PM               FOX                    New Jersey Generals at Michigan Panthers - 563k

Avg 598k; Broadcast 700k

Same Dates 2023 vs 2024 - its an improvement,  ESPN more so and broadcast improved about 5%

    

[4th&long]

What are we averaging over the first 5 weeks so far?

Thru week 5 UFL and XFL/USFL 2023:

Overall - Cable & Broadcast (18 viewing windows) - 849k

XFL 2023 - 655k

USFL 2023 - 693k

From Showbuzz daily 2023, MM and SMW for 2024

The UFL is more in line with 2022 USFL (counting the opening game as 2 since it was on NBC and FOX); no shock there.

[4th&long]

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2024/0 ... -ufl-more/

>> Shifting to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Bruins-Maple Leafs Game 4 topped the action on the ice with a combined 0.7 and 1.39 million across TBS and truTV — the most-watched game of the playoffs until the following night — followed by Hurricanes-Islanders at a 0.47 and 907,000 across the same networks. <<

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2024/0 ... -tnt-espn/

>> Rounding out the Saturday slate, Panthers-Lightning Game 4 drew a 0.47 (+11%) and 876,000 (+1%) and Stars-Golden Knights Game 3 a 0.44 (+15%) and 812,000 (+12%). <<

These NHL games are simulcast on TBS (possibly TNT) with Tru TV

UFL averaged 732k this week with no simulcast

[4th&long]

>> Comparing To Last YearAcross the board, the averages are up for the UFL compared to the USFL and XFL last year at this time:

XFL, Week Five: 266,000 average
USFL, Week Five: 623,000 average

UFL, Week Five: 732,000 average

It helps that most of the UFL’s matchups are primarily on OTA networks such as FOX and ABC, whereas the XFL was featured on cable channels like FX and ESPN2 for large chunks of the year. <<

https://pfnewsroom.com/column/breaking- ... week-five/

Week 5 UFL was on Fox Saturday, ESPN and Fox on Sunday


 

[MGB01]

Just proves that OTA is king, especially for a startup (or pseudo-startup in this case) league. It's why the NFL's not leaving anytime soon for all the gossip versed as educated speculation, MLB's plummeted, and the NBA's about to do their first two-OTA deal ever.

It is good to see ESPN hit north of 600K on a Sunday afternoon in April for non-NBA (and maybe throw in the NHL), but if it's anytime in the last 30 years you don't want them handling the majority of the games.

[4th&long]

Just proves that OTA is king, especially for a startup (or pseudo-startup in this case) league. It's why the NFL's not leaving anytime soon for all the gossip versed as educated speculation, MLB's plummeted, and the NBA's about to do their first two-OTA deal ever.

It is good to see ESPN hit north of 600K on a Sunday afternoon in April for non-NBA (and maybe throw in the NHL), but if it's anytime in the last 30 years you don't want them handling the majority of the games.

 

OTA is, and NBA seemed to want it but they look to be going for $$$ too.  ESPN did fine on Sunday - especially a beautiful day in Mid Atlantic and NE.  Fox did well on Sunday too. 
It wasn't a good selection of games (3 Texas teams) for a regionalized game and they choose the wrong game to go 89% of the country.  If nothing else you'd think it would be a more balanced split to reduce risk of bad viewer #'s.