Post-season soccer from North American domestic leagues played big for Univision Deportes.
Broadcaster UniMas’ coverage of the Los Angeles Galaxy’s 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution scored as the circuit’s most-watched MLS Final, averaging 678,000 viewers from 3 p.m. to 6:08 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, Dec. 7, according to Nielsen data.
In Landon Donovan's farewell to pro soccer, the delivery for the Galaxy’s fifth championship -- it came at the expense of the Revolution’s fifth loss in the title tilt -- was up 31% from the 2013 match won by Sporting Kansas City over Real Salt Lake. With 395,000 adults 18 to 49, the 2014 MLS Final outpointed its counterpart from a year ago in the demo by 60%.
The top U.S. circuit’s championship match didn’t measure up to the semifinals of Mexico’s LMX. The Apertura first leg match between America-Monterrey on Dec. 4 was cable service Univision Deportes Network’s top telecast ever with 1.2 million watchers from 10 p.m. to 12:05 a.m. that night. Included in that total: 781,000 adults 18 to 49.
The second leg in which America advanced to the championship versus Tigres, averaged 1.3 million watchers and 851,000 in the aforementioned demo to stand as the week’s top soccer telecast, regardless of network.
The contest, which aired on UniMas from 6:55 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8. topped the best English Premier League game, the Nov. 2 Manchester City-Arsenal match on NBC, by 8% in the demo, according to Univision officials.
Univision’s coverage of Liga MX ranks as the most-viewed club soccer in the U.S., outpacing NBC Sports’ presentation of the EPL and Fox Sports’ coverage of the UEFA Champions League.
