Unmitigated TV ratings disaster for AVP League's second installment on The CW
Pro beach: Audience for controversial series plummets 50.5% from its debut and 90.9% in the key demo. Yikes!
The second verse of the AVP League did significantly worse than the first.
The Nielsen ratings showed that the encouraging numbers posted during the League’s debut two weeks ago on The CW crashed and burned when mainstream sports fans had another opportunity to sample the product on the over-the-air TV channel.
The two-hour prime-time broadcast on Saturday night generated a total-average viewership of only 129,000 (as reported by the popular Programming Insider website), a 50.9% free-fall from the 261,000 who had tuned in on May 24. Even more damning than shedding half of its overall audience was a 90.9% drop-off-of-a-cliff in the 18-49 demographic most coveted by advertisers. The telecast from San Diego got a 0.01 rating in 18-49, a startling decline from a more-acceptable 0.11 in the CW premiere.
Coupled with vast vistas of empty seats visible through the gloom of dimly lit Viejas Arena, this mass exodus of TV viewers represented a telling repudiation of the League concept foisted upon the volleyball community by the AVP latest ownership group fronted by commissioner Bobby Corvino. The first week’s half-hour breakdown had been a red flag, in that the show failed miserably to retain 409,000 viewers who had stopped by for a look-see.
This time, the casuals likely didn’t bother to show up at all, even though the main head-to-head competition from other sports events on the Saturday night 8 to 10 window was far from daunting (a WNBA game on CBS that injured Caitlin Clark sat out and regular-season regional MLB games on Fox).
The viewership for the first half-hour was 159,000, the telecast’s highest, and that represented a 61.1% drop in a peak-to-peak comparison to the high-water mark of 409,000, which was the most positive aspect of the League’s initial installment. The subsequent half-hours posted averages of 142,000, 113,000 and 104,000. The trough-to-trough comparison showed a 37.7% decline, and the program had an attrition rate of 34.9% from the first to the fourth half-hours.
None of these metrics should be viewed as a silver lining by the AVP’s brain trust. Corvino and Co. have gone far out on a limb in force-feeding their non-traditional vision of beach volleyball to a skeptical existing fan base, the overwhelming percentage of which can only be described as greatly reluctant support to the League.
The AVP will pour millions to the project, producing TV on its own dime and then paying more to its national-TV partners (the CW and CBS Sports) in what almost certainly are time buys. If the League fails to gain ratings traction with potential new fans, those millions will be squandered.
The domestic tour slashed the number of bracket-style tournaments in its top tier to two (the lone remaining one to be played is the iconic Manhattan Beach Open) in favor of a series featuring eight regular-season events. Each stop features four “teams” with a men’s pair and a women’s duo. Sets were shortened to 15 points from 21 to better fit a “game” of two matches into a two-hour TV window. A League Championship in which the six most successful pair in each gender advance to a single-elimination bracket will complete the schedule.
The staggering decline in the television numbers should come as no surprise. All Volleyball! wrote two weeks ago that the debut telecast would not generate any momentum among casual viewers, head-scratchingly being more geared towards the die-hards than to first-time curiosity-seekers. Predictably, having tuned out early the first time, the casuals on Saturday found another viewing option, driving home the bromide that you never a second chance to make a first impression.
Attendance in the first two stops in a South Florida outdoor tennis center and indoors in Southern California has been visibly terrible (crowds likely have numbered in triple digits), hardly sending a message to mainstream sports fans that the League would be worth their time to watch. Jaded longtime supporters apparently aren’t buying that less beach volleyball is more, and have spoken with their wallets.
The third time around doesn’t figure to produce any better optics. The League on Friday and Saturday is booked into an 850-seat venue in the west Miami suburb of Medley, the site of the recent 3-on-3 women’s basketball Unrivaled league. That seems likely evoke a small-time made-for-TV vibe instead of big-league sports.
Crossover photo op for KSC
That’s South Side sports legend Katie Schumacher-Cawley at Rate Field on Sunday afternoon to deliver a ceremonial pitch before the Chicago White Sox played the Kansas City Royals.
Katie ranks among the greatest female athletes in Chicago high-school sports annals, starring in volleyball and basketball at all-girls Mother McAuley and went out to an All-American volleyball career at Penn State.
Schumacher-Cawley won national titles as a player and a coach with the Nittany Lions. As her Penn State women claimed the NCAA indoor crown in 2024, Coach Katie’s battle with breast cancer was a profiles-in-courage story that captured the attention of national mainstream media.
A little help …
Larry Hamel’s All Volleyball! is in the formative stage so I ask for your assistance in building its readership base. Please forward this email to your volleyball friends who might find the page of interest and/or share this post to your social-media platforms. Also, your financial aid would be greatly appreciated. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber. All Volleyball! is independent third-party journalism bringing you stories you can read. Thanks for your support!
If you enjoyed reading this story, check out what else is on the All Volleyball! site by hitting the button below:
