Modest TV ratings recovery for AVP League on The CW
Pro beach: Third installment grows its overall audience by 6.79% over last week, but shows no uptick in the important 18-49 demo
The beleaguered AVP received some mildly encouraged news from the Nielsen ratings: Week 3 of the League on The CW performed slightly better than last week, but still lagged 123,000 short of the premiere’s audience.
The two-hour show from Wayfair Arena, a cozy made-for-TV venue in suburban Miami, featured superbly competitive beach volleyball involving some of the AVP’s best-known names on the women’s and men’s sides. Underdog pairs representing the Miami Mayhem extended both matches to tiebreakers before being dispatched by the more highly decorated duos of the Palm Beach Passion.
The best “volleyball show” by a wide margin of the three League telecasts presented thus far on the over-the-air CW, it garnered a total-average viewership of 138,000 (as reported by the popular Programming Insider website), a small increase of 9,000 from the 129,000 who tuned in on the previous Saturday night from San Diego.
That 6.97% gain paled in comparison to the 132,000 that League shed between its first the second installments. Furthermore, series failed to recoup any of the lost eyeballs in the key 18-49 demographic most coveted the advertisers. After scoring an encouraging 18-49 rating of 0.11 in the CW debut, the League nearly flat-lined with 0.01 numbers in Weeks 2 and 3.
A mitigating factor existed on Saturday night that most likely had a negative effect on the ratings. The local CW affiliate in Los Angeles, KTLA (Channel 5), preempted the League to broadcast news coverage of the “No Kings” protest against President Trump that reportedly numbered 200,000 protestors in LA. The station aired the League later on Saturday, but the time switch on tape delay did the AVP no favors in the market with its most highly invested traditional fan base.
A breakdown of the half-hours netted a bit more of a rationalization for the investment of millions in the controversial series by the AVP ownership group fronted by Bobby Corvino. The peak viewership of 172,000 occurred (for the third time in three shows) during the opening 30 minutes and represented 8.17% boost from Week 2’s high-water mark. The remaining half-hours logged 122,000, 122,000 and 105,000. A 39.59% attrition rate from first to fourth indicated the telecast likely suffered an erosion by some of the highly sought casual sports fans.
The typical trend in live sporting events is to maintain or even grow their audience as the game plays out, unless the proceedings grow lopsided. Both of the first two weeks of League play on the CW produced one-sided results, almost certainly prompting casuals to seek other options. But Week 3 saw two-time USA Olympian and 2023 world champion Kelly Cheng and Naperville’s Molly Shaw of the Mayhem take a tense OT first set 20-18 against the Passion’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandi Wilkerson before the Olympic silver medalists from Canada rallied to win a deuce second set and a 15-10 tiebreaker.
There was plenty to talk about in the break between matches while the men’s pairs warmed up, so that time passed more briskly than it did in the previous telecasts. Then the men put on a big drama show, thanks to an early quad injury sustained by a clearly hobbled Trevor Crabb and a dominating effort by his Passion partner, retiring all-time great Phil Dalhausser.
One of the most promising emerging American “bigs,” 6-foot-8 James Shaw, caused consternation with his sizzling topspin jump serves, and he and mate Chaim Schalk seemingly had Trevor and Phil on the ropes. Dalhausser also was dealing with a calf issue, but Phil is a legend for good reason. He willed the “Dream Team” across the finish, dialing up back-to-back topspin aces of his own to get to match point in the tiebreaker and a third serve producing an out-of-system scenario that resulted in Shaw wailing a spike well out of bounds to seal a 15-10 victory.
“I definitely wasn’t going to quit,” said Crabb, who labeled the injury a 8-out-of-10 on the pain scale. “I kept grinding and when you’ve got Phil bombing some aces, especially in the third set, that helps a lot.”
Added Dalhausser: “I felt like we were playing with the house’s money. Both of us were banged up, so I might as well go for the (the aces). There was nothing to lose.”
The hitch was even that compelling couldn’t hold all the viewers’ interest through fourth 30 minutes. Such is the fickle nature of TV ratings.
The League rolls on this weekend, with Week 4 playing outdoors in a temporary venue at EHP Resort & Marina in posh East Hampton, New York. From the venue map on the AVP website, it appears to be set up for boutique seating, so expect another small crowd by design. League games are on Saturday and Sunday afternoons this week with the CW network broadcast scheduled from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
The 850-seat Wayfair Arena, by the way, looked pretty good. The court lightning was excellent, but it nonetheless was impossible for the viewer who was paying attention not to notice that there were empty seats in a bandbox building.
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