The 2015 – 2016 Bundesliga season is the first to be comprehensively broadcast in the United States, with all matches airing on either one of the many Fox networks, or, in lieu of television coverage, available through the streaming web service Fox Soccer 2 Go. No longer would fans of the German top flight be forced to cobble together a season’s viewing through illegal streaming websites and the occasional televised Bayern Munich eight-goal slaughterfest; instead, supporters of clubs from Bremen to Ingolstadt can count on watching every match, if not always on television, at least from their laptops.
And the American response to this newly comprehensive coverage? Tepid, at best.
Through 17 weeks of Bundesliga action, Fox and its subsidiary networks (Fox Sports 1 & 2, Fox Deportes) averaged just 55,000 viewers per match.* By comparison, the NFL averaged 17.6 million viewers per game in 2014. Said differently, the gap between Americans watching the Bundesliga and Americans watching the NFL is even larger than the difference between the populations of Los Angeles, California, and Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
But even when placed next to NBC’s coverage of the British Premier League—certainly a more direct competitor, and probably a more just comparison—the contrast is stark. NBC draws an average of 550,000 viewers per Premier League fixture, ten times the viewership enjoyed by Fox and the Bundesliga. These numbers don’t count streaming on Fox Soccer 2 Go, which is somewhat encouraging that a much larger number are actually tuning in. But then again, neither do NBC count viewers on their streaming service in their ratings, so the comparison still stands. All of this is to say: Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither does it seem likely that a strong, Stateside Bundesliga fan base be established within a single season.
Step Aside, Pep
Despite the overall mediocrity of the Bundesliga’s ratings on Fox so far, there have been some notable exceptions—but perhaps not where you might think. In terms of drawing American audiences, the leader is not Bavarian juggernauts and league-leaders Bayern Munich. In fact, even with their star-studded lineup, the world’s most sought-after football manager, and a proven ability to score goals in droves, Bayern Munich don’t even make the top five in terms of most-watched Bundesliga clubs.
By a significant margin (nearly 30,000 more viewers per match than the number two team), the top spot belongs to Bayer Leverkusen. But in truth, the top spot belongs not so much to that squad, as to a single player among them: Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. Since signing the Mexican striker, Leverkusen’s American ratings have spiked, and, incidentally, so has Hernandez’s goal production, freed from the fetters of Louis Van Gaal’s sleepy tactics at Old Trafford.
Chicharito’s 11 goals this season are great for Leverkusen’s Champions League hopes, but they’re hardly pacesetting, good enough for fourth in the Bundesliga’s top goalscorers and a good bit behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s 18. Chicharito’s appeal is certainly greater the better he plays, but even if he was tenth in the league’s top scorers, he’d still likely be drawing a large audience. That’s because Leverkusen’s remarkable American television draw speaks less to a newly wrought Bundesliga fan base in the USA, and more to Mexican-American soccer fans, supporters of El Tri, tuning in to watch Mexico’s most loved starlet (if, at times, loved to hate) ply his trade in Deutschland.
Of course, Fox will be happy to see viewers tuning in no matter what, especially given the relatively paltry audience the Bundesliga has garnered so far this season. But if the network aspires to the kind of success NBC has seen with the Premier League, they’ll need to have a broader fan base, an audience that is motivated more by a loyalty to a club and an interest in the league itself than by seeing a single player score goals. In other words, what the Bundesliga—and, by extension, Fox—needs is to build brand loyalty, not just profit from the love of a single product.
Time and Titles
So, how do they do that? Well, the simple answer (but one that probably wouldn’t set the Fox executives afire in the boardroom) is time. Most Americans, even fans of the sport, and even fans of other European teams at that, have very little exposure to the Bundesliga’s teams beyond the top two or three teams. Sure, even in England the top four or five sides dominate the headlines, stealing much of the visibility, but as time goes on, even casual fans of the league know not just Manchester United, but also Southhampton, not only Arsenal but also Swansea City. For fans of the Bundesliga in Germany, Schalke is a household name; until it’s as readily recognizable in the States as Chelsea and Liverpool are, the Bundesliga’s ratings will lag behind the Premier League.
Beyond simply the greater familiarity that time and increased exposure will bring, another potential catalyst for improved ratings next season will be the departure of Pep Guardiola from Bayern Munich. Title races are exciting. And in a country where major sports championships are decided by playoff systems, not league table position, the notion of wrapping up the league title with nearly two months left to play, as Bayern Munich did last year, has the potential to come off not as an amazing and historic achievement, but as unattractive to the point of being ridiculous.
Obviously I’m not suggesting that the Bundesliga adopt a playoff in order to pander to the so far tiny American audience. What I am suggesting is that Pep’s departure from Bayern Munich may tip the scales next season in favor of greater parity (which, it should be pointed out, the Bundesliga has historically had a better track record of than the BPL). Bayern’s current eight point lead atop the table is not invulnerable, but anyone betting against them is either naive, or a Dortmund supporter. With Pep gone at the end of this season, for the 2016-2017 campaign, Bayern Munich will remain a title contender, and likely even retain their status as favorite, yet the race will likely be a closer contest. With luck, and with time, that contest will enjoy a wider American Audience in 2016 than it did in 2015.
*Thanks to Bayern Central for the viewership statistics.