Far less of a draw than usual, the Manchester United/Arsenal rivalry still gave NBCSN a big lift last weekend.
Last Saturday’s Manchester United/Arsenal English Premier League match had a 0.3 final rating and 491,000 viewers on NBCSN, up a tick in ratings and 72% in viewership from Bournemouth/Newcastle last year (0.2, 285K) and the second-most watched early morning match this season (start time prior to 9 AM ET).
The Manchester Derby holds the top spot (623K).
Though high for its timeslot, it was the least-watched edition of the Manchester United/Arsenal rivalry on the NBC family of networks (seven telecasts dating back to 2013). Each of the six other matches topped 700,000 viewers, with the caveat that none of those aired before 9 AM.
Later Saturday morning, Southampton/Liverpool had a 0.3 and 476,000 — flat in ratings and up a fraction of a percent in viewership from Manchester United/West Brom last year (0.3, 474K), and flat and up 15% respectively from West Brom/Chelsea in 2014 (0.3, 414K).
The week’s other matches did not fare nearly as well. On the NBC broadcast network, Tottenham/West Ham had a 0.5 and 642,000 Saturday afternoon — down 38% in ratings and 40% in viewership from Stoke City/Chelsea last year (0.8, 1.1M) and down 44% and 54% respectively from Arsenal/Man. U. in 2014 (0.9, 1.4M). Seven of NBC’s eight matches this year have failed to reach the 900,000 mark, compared to four of ten at the same point last year.
Rounding out the week’s action, NBCSN scored a 0.2 (-50%) and 396,000 (-44%) for Middlesbrough/Chelsea Sunday morning and just 86,000 viewers for West Brom/Burnley on Monday afternoon. The latter was not a season low, ranking just ahead of Swansea/Watford on CNBC in October (82K).
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 11/22, Sports Business Daily 11/23)
