NBC Shows Viewing Increase For Premier League Opening

By Jay Stuart

NBC Sports Group scored record numbers this past weekend for the kick-off of its first English Premier League season in the USA. More than 3.4 million people tuned in to coverage. Saturday’s NBC telecast of Swansea City versus Manchester United drew 792, capsule 000 average viewers, the most ever for a Premier League opening match.

The five English-language games on NBC and NBCSN drew a total of 3.2 million viewers – up 52% from 2.1 million for the five games on ESPN and Fox Soccer last year. The five games averaged 443,000 viewers — +78% above the ESPN/Fox Soccer average for five games on opening weekend last year (249,000 average viewers).

For games on cable, the four weekend matches on NBCSN averaged 356,000 viewers – a +43% increase from last year’s 249,000 average viewership for the five games on ESPN and Fox Soccer.

Fans streamed more than 5.7 million minutes of Premier League action via the NBC Sports Live Extra live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices and tablets. This is the first time ever that all Premier League games are available at no extra cost (to fans with NBC Sports Network) via live stream.

All games are also on television with the Premier League Extra Time bonus television package, which carries matches not on the NBCUniversal networks. Extra Time is available at no extra cost to homes receiving NBC Sports Network through their cable or satellite providers.