Playground →
Two distinct audience neighborhoods define MLS's similarity map — one anchored in soccer media, the other in a surprisingly broad consumer retail landscape. Similarity here measures how closely two entities' audiences resemble each other in composition; a score near 0.92 signals near-identical audience shape.
The soccer media cluster dominates the top of the list. ESPN FC leads at 0.92, followed closely by Landon Donovan (0.89) and FOX Soccer (0.89). U.S. Soccer MNT (0.85), Premier League (0.84), and Champions League on CBS Sports (0.83) extend the cluster. Subcategory-wise, this group spans TV Shows, TV Channels, Athletes, Sports Teams, and Sports Leagues — all orbiting the same sport. Three fellow athletes — Clint Dempsey (0.81), Sydney Leroux Dwyer (0.81), and Alexi Lalas (0.81) — round out this peak.
The second peak is structurally different. NBC Sports Soccer (0.81) bridges toward it, but positions 9 and 10 — NBC Sports Soccer and Alexi Lalas — give way in the broader top 50 to apparel brands, entertainment centers, and retail. Even within the strict top 10, Chelsea FC (0.81) is the lone club-side entry, sitting alongside the athlete cluster rather than anchoring a separate league group. MLS shares its subcategory — Sports Leagues — with Premier League (0.84) as the only fellow league in the top 10.
The two-peak shape reflects an audience that is simultaneously a tight soccer-following community and a broader, family-oriented consumer base — a combination that distinguishes MLS from leagues whose audiences cluster more narrowly around a single axis.
