MOTD Vs Changing viewing habits

Performance Communications | March 11, 2025

I used to be a Match of the Day devotee, but the appeal is unfortunately waning.

Yes, Sunderland AFC have been absent for 7 (seven) seasons, but I can’t remember the last time I tuned in for a full episode and with viewing figures down year-on-year (just 2.7 million earlier in January), this national institution needs more than a rotation of new presenters.

Changing sporting viewing habits and the limited attention spans of the Great British public mean that MOTD is up against it.

The 10:30 pm scheduling is just too late, especially when you take into account the fact that Sky Sports uploads 3-minute key highlight videos to YouTube within 15 minutes of the 3 pm matches finishing on a Saturday afternoon!

Generally, I’ve caught up on the goals and incidents by 6 pm. And, if I really wanted to, I can find the goals on Twitter a few minutes after they’ve been scored.

It will be interesting to see how the new presenters fare from August, but the overall format needs re-working to become more palatable for all generations of viewer, and it’s Saturday evening kick off needs to be earlier!

Since I initially put ‘pen to paper’ with my thoughts, the BBC Chairman has stepped in this weekend to claim that MOTD shouldn’t be about the football highlights but the deeper match analysis! I cannot see that this will be the solution as there is already so much competition for this type of content, and if you haven’t already seen the highlights, then what is the appeal of in-depth tactical analysis at 10:30 pm on a Saturday night??!

Seph

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