NBC Sports’ second year of Premier League coverage had a modest rise in viewership.
Coverage of the English Premier League averaged 479,000 viewers on NBC and NBCSN, up 9% from last year (438K) and up 118% from the 2012-13 season, when coverage still aired on Fox Soccer and ESPN/ESPN2 (220K). The average is the highest ever for the Premier League in the United States, topping last year.
As previously noted, the season ended over the weekend with 1.8 million viewers for EPL Championship Sunday — the largest EPL audience ever in the U.S., albeit across ten networks.
Outside of Championship Sunday, the season’s top audience was 1.4 million for Manchester United/Arsenal on NBC in November. It was the most-watched live* EPL telecast on a single network, with three of the four largest audiences taking place this season alone.
NBCSN’s top match was the Manchester Derby in April, which earned 1.1 million viewers — the largest EPL audience ever on cable, and the seventh-largest audience for a live match on any network.
* Multiple tape-delayed matches on FOX earned a larger audience, including 1.7 million for Liverpool/Chelsea in November 2011.
(This year’s numbers from NBC Sports Group Press Box)
