Thanks to Leo Messi, the MLS Season Pass is approaching one million subscribers

The Soccer Superstar Leo Messi marked his MLS debut with a stunning free-kick goal. Still crowned with his victory in the world cup, the player of the Miami team is also the attraction of the Season Pass of MLS, whose broadcasting rights are held by Apple. Citing industry sources, Sports Business Journal says the MLS Season Pass is approaching one million subscribers worldwide, “a figure that includes subscription holders to whom access is provided as part of their purchase. »

According to the same sources, the number of MLS Season Pass subscribers was 700,000 in the month of June, which means that Messi (almost) alone has attracted 300,000 additional subscribers (in a matter of weeks!). The number of subscribers should even continue to increase rapidly when the Argentine player begins to accumulate a few matches. It is worth remembering that Apple had already started to boost the number of subscribers by halving the price of the Season Pass. Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of Services, also confirmed that subscriptions and viewership were “much better than expected”.

In the list of sore points, it would appear that MLS club executives resent Apple’s lack of transparency… while privately complaining about Apple’s focus on numbers of views, subscribers and advertising so early in a 10-year partnership. The absence of clear data also hinders the clubs’ marketing and advertising departments, which struggle to correctly target their audiences. In the end, the deal would still be a winner for the clubs, the explosion in the number of subscriptions largely compensating for the policy of secrecy so dear to Cupertino.