By Mike Mitchell
@MMXFLWriter
Week 5 XFL TV Network Ratings on Saturday March 7th
Seattle Dragons at Houston Roughnecks game Saturday on ABC averaged 1.547 million viewers
New York Guardians at Dallas Renegades game Saturday on Fox averaged 1.497 million viewers
(The Fox game despite having fewer total viewers beat ABC game in 18-49 demo, 531 to 496, both strong numbers in the desired demo for the networks)
Week 4 XFL TV Ratings Comparison last Saturday on ABC/Fox
Los Angeles Wildcats at New York Guardians game averaged 1.558 million viewers (ABC)
Seattle Dragons at St. Louis BattleHawks game averaged 1.8 million viewers
Week 5 XFL Cable TV Ratings on Sunday March 8th
St. Louis BattleHawks at DC Defenders afternoon game on FS1 averaged 767 thousand viewers (Ranked 22nd out of 150 Cable TV programs on Sunday)
Tampa Bay Vipers at LA Wildcats primetime game on ESPN (9pm ET) averaged 833 thousand viewers (6th for the night on all of Cable)
Week 4 XFL Cable TV Ratings Comparison last week on FS1/ESPN 2
ESPN 2: Defenders @ Vipers 1.030 million viewers.
FS1: Roughnecks @ Roughnecks 1.1 million viewers
Market ratings for the four XFL telecasts are not available as of press time. This post will be updated when the numbers become available.
Saturday 3/7 Sports Network Ratings Comparisons;
XFL on ABC: 1.547 million viewers
XFL on Fox: 1.497 million viewers
Boxing on Fox: 1.4 million viewers
NBA on ABC: 1.9 million viewers
PGA on NBC: 1.7 million viewers
NCAA Basketball on CBS: 1.5 million viewers
NCAA Basketball on Fox: 683 thousand viewers
Market Ratings for Week 5 XFL Games on ABC/ESPN/Fox/FS1
XFL week 5 on ABC/ESPN:
Saturday’s Seattle vs Houston XFL game on ABC averaged 1,546,000 viewers. The telecast peaked between 4:45–5 p.m. ET with 1,916,000 viewers. The top-5 markets were Houston (4.4 rating), Seattle-Tacoma (3.6), Cleveland (2.6), Ft. Myers-Naples (2.3), and New Orleans (2.0)
Sunday’s Tampa Bay vs Los Angeles XFL game on ESPN averaged 833,000 viewers. The telecast peaked between 10:15–10:30 p.m. ET with 989,000 viewers. The top-5 markets were Tampa-St. Pete (1.8 rating), New Orleans (1.6), Birmingham (1.4), Charlotte (1.3) and Austin (1.2).
Through five weeks (10 games), XFL games on ESPN/ABC are averaging an audience of 1,893,000 viewers.
March 7
Saturday (New York-Dallas) – FOX
- Total Viewership: 1,497,000
- Top Markets: Dallas (2.6/7), St Louis (2.2/6), Columbus (2.1/4), Houston (2.0/5), Cleveland (1.9/5); Kansas City (1.9/4); Jacksonville (1.9/4)
*Home Markets: New York (0.8/2) Dallas 2.6/7
March 8
Sunday (St. Louis-DC Defenders) – FS1
- Total Viewership: 767,000
- Top Markets: St. Louis (4.84), Washington (1.12), Nashville (1.09), Kansas City (.97), Baltimore (.85)
*Home Markets: St. Louis (4.84) Dallas (1.12)
18-49 Demo Ratings for Week 5 XFL Games
ABC game (Sea @ Hou): 1.547m viewers, 496,000 18-49, 1.05 rating (last week: 1.558m, 504,000, 1.01)
Fox game (NY @ Dal): 1.497m viewers, 531,000 18-49, 0.94 rating (last week: 1.802m, 605,000, 1.11)
FS1 game (Stl @ DC): 767,000 viewers, 277,000 18-49, 0.48 rating (last week: 1.113m, 493,000, 0.64)
ESPN game (TB @ LA): 833,000 viewers, 430,000 18-49, 0.54 rating (no ESPN game last week)
Analysis
As mentioned here last week. The XFL is facing their toughest challenge the next couple of weeks in the ratings. Especially with March Madness on the horizon.
Week 6 presents the league’s toughest challenge for viewership.
Since Week 2, the XFL has not had three weekly big network games air.
This coming weekend, The 5-0 Houston Roughnecks travel to MetLife Stadium to face the 3-2 New York Guardians, Saturday 2 pm ET on ABC.
There will be no Fox broadcast in Week 6 of the XFL’s regular season. On Saturday, St. Louis plays at Tampa on FS2 5pm ET.
On Sunday, Dallas will be at DC on FS1 at 4 pm ET, and the weekends games conclude with LA at Seattle, Sunday 7 pm ET on ESPN2.
In weeks 7 and 8, the XFL finally goes back to a three network game block. With two games on ABC and one Fox game in each of those respective weeks.
Weeks Nine and Ten will see the XFL on Thursday Night in Primetime on Fox.
A first-year pro sports league is bound to have its peaks and valleys in year one. The XFL is in that valley territory right now. The next seven weeks should be interesting to follow, to see how the XFL ratings stabilize and if they are headed in the right direction by seasons-end.
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I am a pro football writer who has extensively covered and reported on multiple leagues over the years. I started covering the XFL back in 2001. You can follow me on Twitter @byMikeMitchell
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Karl Rogers
March 10, 2020 at 9:52 pm
I’m his Dad
Joe
March 10, 2020 at 10:03 pm
so a lesser football league is still holding its own against leagues like the
NHL and NBA which have been around for decades. That to me, at least, is a good
sign. Unfortunately, the XFL really isn’t advertising like it should throughout
the week on national television and they really should do some billboard
advertising to promote the league. Here in Washington, D.C., I have yet to see
an ad for the XFL near a bus or subway stop or even a billboard off the highway.
The XFL needs to advertise more.
Tony
March 10, 2020 at 11:15 pm
It is really starting to become critical that the ratings stabilize here soon. If they go an entire season without stabilizing than there really won’t be much of a future for this league. The networks will likely not want to televise a season 2 if they can’t be assured that it can maintain an audience.
Shirley Ahrens
March 11, 2020 at 12:13 pm
XFL needs to let us know which channel is caring game and time. I spend time hunting for the two games on Saturday and Sunday so I don’t miss out on the fun.
I am enjoy watching the new format of football and the extras of the play calls