The David Beckham experiment has, so far, been a successful one — at least on television.
Every ESPN-televised match involving the high profile British import has set some form of ratings record. His U.S. debut, a friendly against Chelsea FC, drew a 1.0 cable rating on ESPN on July 21, the highest rated MLS event ever on ESPN or ESPN2. His first match against an MLS team, a Thursday night game against D.C. United, drew a 0.5 rating on August 9, a record for ESPN2.
Beckham’s third MLS match set a new record. The battle between the Galaxy and Chivas USA drew a 0.6 rating last Thursday night, breaking the previous ESPN2 ratings record set two weeks earlier. Through three matches involving Beckham, ESPN/ESPN2 is averaging a 0.7 cable rating, up 250% from the 0.2 cable rating MLS games on ESPN/ESPN2 averaged prior to Beckham’s arrival.
To put the 0.7 in perspective, ESPN averaged a 0.9 cable rating for the first seven episodes of The Bronx is Burning, while regular season NBA games averaged a 1.2 and 1.1 cable rating on TNT and ESPN, respectively, last season, and MLB telecasts averaged a 1.5 cable rating on ESPN through the first half of this season.
Numbers for ESPN MLS telecasts involving David Beckham.
- July 21: 1.0 cable rating, 947,000 HH, 1.5 mil viewers
- Aug. 9: 0.5 cable rating, 421,000 HH
- Aug. 23: 0.6 cable rating, 532,000 HH, 658,000 viewers
