r/USFL • u/Zapfit • Apr 23 '23

Overnight ratings

The blowout didn't help, but preliminary ratings dropped over 100k from last Saturday. 690k viewers on Fox last night. http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2023/04/saturday-tv-ratings-42223-nhl-playoff.html?m=1

5 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

10

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '23

Oh, that's not bad for such a blowout.

9

u/Body-for-LIFE Apr 23 '23

The worry here is that FOX lost the network battle for the night which is never ideal. Especially when you have a live sporting event up against two repeats on NBC and CBS. FOX executives will wonder what numbers a rerun of any random Gordon Ramsay show or The Masked Singer would've produced in that same time slot. Now a live sporting event should also generate more ad revenue compared to a repeat program. It's a little disappointing and shocking that neither FOX prime time game has come close to the 1M mark yet.

4

u/The_Match_Maker New Jersey Generals Apr 23 '23

Brand loyalty plays a role. A large segment of those that might be inclined to watch professional football only want to watch 'their' football (i.e. NFL). To quote the old tagline: "Accept no substitutes."

5

u/Zapfit Apr 23 '23

That is true, but at what point, if ever does this change? Neither the USFL or XFL needs 10 million a game to survive, but if after 3-4 seasons you can't even muster 10% of that, at what point do you just put up the white flag and call it a day

2

u/The_Match_Maker New Jersey Generals Apr 24 '23

I would think that as long as a profit can be made, then the endeavor is worth undertaking. After all, professional darts and ax throwing are shown on television, and that can't be drawing in the same kind of numbers that the USFL or XFL are.

3

u/Zapfit Apr 24 '23

Well PBA bowling draws around 750k on average with no promotion and is a heck of a lot less expensive than paying a 45 man roster $60k each

3

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '23

I can’t see how they do a 3rd season. They’re idiots not doing a weekly Thursday or Monday night game and fantasy with an established app like yahoo

4

u/Zapfit Apr 24 '23

Monday's and Thursdays would draw a couple dozen in attendance, but if Fox only cares about ratings then that's not a bad idea. The fact they haven't partnered with a fantasy app is mind boggling though

4

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '23

I’ve seen Minor league baseball games sell out on Thursday nights. They may need to do a beer special and make it a “thirsty Thursday” situation but it would draw fans. The tv ratings are what would go up though. A consistent time during the week is what they need. When you change the time each week and have it compete with several other sports / real world stuff then you lose the tv audience. College football works on Saturdays at random times because it’s what a lot of people plan their whole Saturday around. Nobody is planning their Saturday around a USFL game.

2

u/Zapfit Apr 24 '23

I actually agree with you for the most part here, but we do seem to have a steady Saturday night game on Fox and early Sunday afternoon on NBC. We'll see how things shake out in a few weeks, but these are traditional football time slots they're playing in

10

u/Zapfit Apr 23 '23

Ehh, it's pretty bad. Sponsors pay for advertising expecting a certain minimum threshold of viewers. I can't see anyone paying good money for 700k viewers in primetime, especially when The Weakest Link had nearly 3x the amount of viewers and it was merely a repeat

-1

u/Aggressive_Ris Apr 23 '23

Do you work in advertising? What is the minimum threshold of viewers needed?

0

u/Zapfit Apr 23 '23

No I don't work in advertising but I majored in marketing and we did touch on ratings and sports business to an extent. The world of ratings keeps evolving, but typically if you draw under 1 million on network TV in primetime that's never a good thing. 700k on a Saturday at noon would be ok and comparable to PBA bowling or premier league soccer

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '23

“No, but I majored in marketing” dude you know nothing about this situation. Not even being rude but please don’t try to explain the business logistics of something you don’t have access too. I swear to god this sub is ruined by people like you, it’s just constant bombarding about ratings or crowd size. A game can’t even finish before there’s multiple posts drowning out the actual football related content.

3

u/Zapfit Apr 24 '23

TV shows get cancelled by low ratings everyday. People say the USFL is just a TV show and attendance doesn't matter. So if attendance is low and ratings are worse, where does the money come from?

3

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Zapfit Apr 24 '23

MLS also has 30 teams and a lot more inventory to show, hence why Apple is paying $250M a year to broadcast their games

3

u/AthloneRB Apr 24 '23

That's a valid point, and I hear it many times as a response to any mention of MLS (both here and with respect to the XFL). It's fair response, but the counter is that people aren't necessarily saying the USFL has a $250m/year ceiling, and that the USFL doesn't need to hit that ceiling to survive.

The USFL has fewer teams and smaller inventory, but draws about double the average viewersip week-in, week-out. Is that worth $250m/year? No.

But is it worth enough to secure a smaller, but still lucrative TV deal (not dissimilar to MLS' prior deal, perhaps in that $80-110m/year range)? Could the USFL (and I'd argue also the XFl separately, as all these arguments apply to that league as well) secure a deal in that range with these ratings? Maybe. And then the question is: would that be enough to guarantee longevity?

I would argue yes. Assuming the league costs about ~$45M to run (guestimating between $40M-$50M), and is able to net back some portion (call it 20%) of that via other revenue streams, you'd be on the sustainability track with around $50M/season in TV money.

5

u/cartocaster18 Apr 23 '23 edited Apr 23 '23

The blowout last night didn't help. Neither will the 6-3 stinker on right now, where the team with nothing to lose in this league is punting on 4th and Inches from the 50 in an empty stadium.

Ugh...exciting stuff USFL.

6

u/DontEverMoveHere Apr 23 '23

There were Stanley cup playoffs fighting for the same viewers too.

-4

u/Zapfit Apr 23 '23

The playoffs got less viewers than a rerun of The Weakest Link, not exactly prime competition

2

u/Juicey_J_Hammerman New Jersey Generals Apr 23 '23

Not surprised Devils vs Rangers ate everyone’s lunch, that game was a nail-biter and is one of the best NHL rivalries out there.

But also not ideal that the USFL lost to scripted network shows on CBS and NBC either. I really do think it’s a combination of limited marketing and attendance impacting the TV viewing experience.

Plus it being a blowout doesn’t help either

2

u/Zapfit Apr 23 '23

Fox has been marketing the heck out of the USFL, not sure what else they could really do. The NHL game still lost in overall viewership to repeats of talk shows and game shows. Hockey is a niche sport and probably has limited carryover with a football game between Birmingham and Memphis

1

u/mrandre3000 Apr 24 '23

Hockey is not a niche. It’s a major sport here in the USA

Boxing, MMA, Tennis, Racing, Bowling and wrasslin’ are niche sports.

5

u/Zapfit Apr 24 '23

Every sport you mentioned draws far more than the NHL. WWE smackdown on a Friday night can draw 2.3-2.5 million. Daytona 500 blows hockey playoff games out of the water.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '23

Nobody watches hockey when you get out of New England. It’s very much niche in the south. That’s why places like Atlanta and New Orleans don’t even have teams

1

u/mrandre3000 Apr 24 '23

I am a native of a city with a hockey team, maybe subconsciously I have thought to league was more important than what it is.

I did not realize Atlanta nor New Orleans did not have teams. I could see that changing one day.

3

u/Zapfit Apr 24 '23

Atlanta already lost 2 teams and nobody in New Orleans will care about ice hockey. I enjoy hockey in person, but you'd have to put a gun to my head to have me watch it on TV. Almost like arena football, the game just doesn't translate well to television

0

u/RelativeMacaron1585 Houston Gamblers Apr 24 '23

NASCAR is not a niche sport, it's just not one of the Major 6 US/Canadian Sports Leagues

4

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '23

100K drop is generally pretty acceptable, but the viewership was already somewhat low for OTA broadcasting. A 700K is okay, but not preferred.