The debut season of the English Premier League on the NBC family of networks was a major success.
NBCSN averaged 395,000 viewers for English Premier League coverage during the 2013-14 season, up 80% from last year on ESPN, ESPN2 and Fox Soccer (220K). Including coverage on the NBC broadcast network, the EPL season averaged 438,000 viewers.
According to NBC, the season included nine of the ten most-viewed EPL telecasts ever on U.S. cable television. The January 19 Manchester United/Chelsea match was the top draw on cable with 1.0 miillion viewers, followed by Chelsea/Liverpool on April 27 (940K) and Manchester United/Manchester City on September 22 (852K).
The top match of the season overall was Cardiff/Swansea City on NBC February 8 (1.2M), though that was no record. FOX earned larger audiences for several telecasts when it aired EPL coverage from 2011-13, with tape delayed Sunday afternoon coverage routinely topping 1.5 million viewers.
Swansea City/Manchester United on January 11 (1.1M) and Manchester United/Crystal Palace on February 22 (1.1M) ranked second and third. Championship Sunday, with ten concurrent matches on ten networks, generated a combined 1.8 million viewers — but none of the individual matches made the top ten.
(Season averages from NBC Sports Group Press Box)
