On Saturday, August 24, CBS hosted a triple-header of soccer coverage on its broadcast TV channel. The event included back-to-back-to-back coverage of a Serie A game followed by two NWSL matches. The combined viewership for the three games on the CBS TV channel reached an impressive total of 1.118 million.
The Serie A contest between Parma and Milan was watched by approximately 360,000 people. This game was particularly notable due to the significant American presence involved in it, leading to extensive coverage from CBS including sending its Serie A studio crew out to Italy for pitchside coverage. Following this match were two NWSL games; first at 2:30 p.m., NY/NJ Gotham FC hosted the Portland Thorns with coverage available on both CBS and Paramount+. This match saw Gotham secure a victory with a scoreline of 2-0 thanks to goals from Ella Stevens and Yazmeen Ryan. Approximately 310,000 people tuned in on the CBS broadcast channel for this game.
The final match at 4:30 p.m., featured San Diego Wave hosting Angel City FC in one of NWSL’s major clashes. This finale pulled an audience of around 448,000 making it the most-viewed fixture among all three games aired that day on the CBS broadcast channel.
Potential growth in triple-header viewership
While these numbers may not be record-breaking for CBS, consistent viewership across all three games indicates continued interest in these leagues. Earlier this season, NWSL reported that CBS averaged over half a million viewers (546,300) for their East-West battle between NJ/NY Gotham FC and Angel City FC before registering its second-most-watched regular season match on a CBS platform with 553,000 viewers for the Seattle Reign FC and Portland Thorns FC match.
The Serie A match featuring AC Milan also holds appeal for American audiences. Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah started against Parma, which likely contributed to strong viewership numbers. However, fans are also eager to watch headline matchups featuring top players against each other. While Parma may not generate as much interest as clubs like Inter Milan or Juventus, if CBS were to put in the same promotional effort and triple-header for a Milan game against one of its traditional rivals, it could potentially draw more viewers. This could then lead to stronger audiences for subsequent NWSL fixtures.
Despite the challenges posed by the return of college and professional football in September, CBS's triple-header viewership on broadcast TV has made a promising start. While it may be difficult to maintain this momentum during football season, come springtime there is potential for CBS to continue broadcasting multiple games on their channel thereby attracting even larger audiences.
