Major League Soccer set a new record for MLS Cup television viewership, postseason attendance, digital audience and social media engagement as the League concluded its 21st season on Saturday, Dec. 10 with Seattle Sounders FC defeating Toronto FC to win their first championship.
More than 3.5 million viewers in the United States and Canada watched 2016 MLS Cup, an increase of 177% percent over 2015 MLS Cup, according to Nielsen research. An audience of 1,411,000 watched the league’s 21st championship match on FOX, while 601,000 viewed in Spanish on UniMás. In Canada, an audience of 1,430,000 watched on TSN, while 92,000 viewed in French on RDS.
The 3.534 million viewers is an all-time record for an MLS Cup match in the U.S. and Canada.
<strong>Network</strong> |
<strong>Viewers</strong> |
<strong>Note</strong> |
FOX |
1,411,000 |
Ranks as most-watched MLS Cup since 2001 (English language in the U.S.) |
UniMas |
601,000 |
Ranks as the 2nd most-watched MLS Cup (Spanish language in the U.S.). |
TSN |
1,430,000 |
All-time audience record for an MLS game on TSN/RDS. |
RDS |
92,000 |
|
Total |
3,534,000 |
Soccer fans in Seattle tuned into 2016 MLS Cup in significant numbers, as the match generated a 9.9 household rating in Seattle. In addition, 170 countries viewed 2016 MLS Cup on networks throughout the world. 2016 MLS Cup also was broadcast live on SiriusXM.
Overall, 4.2 million individual Canadians watched some part of Saturday night’s championship game on TSN and RDS.
ATTENDANCE RECORDS SET
In addition to strong television viewership, soccer fans supported their clubs during the 2016 postseason in record numbers, as an all-time high of 27,790 fans per game attended the Audi 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs and 2016 MLS Cup.
The 2016 MLS regular season also set a new attendance record for total (nearly 7.375 million) and average attendance (21,692).
ALL-TIME HIGH: MLS CUP DIGITAL AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
The 2016 MLS Cup also featured record digital metrics. During the final, the League’s website, MLSsoccer.com, set a record for digital audience, up 25 percent over 2015 MLS Cup, and video consumption, up 480 percent over last year’s championship game. The final also saw a record of more than 63 million social media impressions, up 62% over 2015 MLS Cup.
