FOX Bundesliga ratings for Der Klassiker hit the sweet spot

FOX's quick move of Der Klassiker paid big dividends over the weekend. For the showcase of the Bundesliga season to be slotted on Fox Soccer Plus last week was bad, but FOX made up for it by switching the game to the eminently more available FX channel early on Friday.We made a big deal about that on Friday and the ratings backed up how good of a move that was for the them.

192,000 is impressive haul for a last-minute TV change, let alone for a league that has been mired with low viewership numbers on FS1 and FS2. Though the fact that the Bundesliga pre-game show featured higher ratings than the actual match itself is a blip that should be closely monitored in the future, this was a great step forward.

Considering that an AM North London derby and a BPL-leading Leicester City match -- one which went head-to-head with Bayern -- each drew in the 450-475,000, it's a positively delightful step for the Bundesliga. And it's not exactly far to equate what the Bundesliga draws against a league where the annual rights deal for the USA alone is greater than the global sum of Bundesliga TV distribution deals,

Though it would be remiss not to note the clauses on that statements, as "English" and "cable" both point to the impact Chicharito and Bayer Leverkusen has had on Spanish language broadcasts on Fox Deportes. Bayer Leverkusen's 3-3 draw with Augsburg in the buildup to this match garnered 110,000 viewers across two channels which raises a broader question as to why US broadcasters feel this need to draw a distinction between the languages of broadcasts as some measure of overall reach of their product. And nor does it apply to comparisons against over-air broadcasts on FOX proper where the Bundesliga has drawn larger numbers with a variety of matches.