After a slump earlier in the fall, Premier League viewership seems to be recovering on NBC.
Last Saturday’s Leicester City/Manchester City English Premier League match had a 0.7 final rating and 975,000 viewers on the NBC broadcast network, up a tick in ratings and 1% in viewership from Chelsea/Bournemouth last year (0.6, 961K) and up a tick and 18% respectively from Manchester City/Everton in 2014 (0.6, 823K).
The Foxes’ win delivered the second-largest Premier League audience of the season, behind Manchester United/Hull City in week three (1.2M). It edged that match — just barely — as the highest rated of the season (0.72 to 0.71). After failing to reach the 900,000 viewer mark for seven straight telecasts from September 17 through November 5, NBC has topped that mark for each of its past three.
Over on cable, Sunday’s Manchester United/Tottenham match topped the charts with a 0.4 and 643,000 on NBCSN — up 100% in ratings and 76% in viewership from West Ham/Swansea in 2014 (0.2, 365K). There was no comparable window last year.
Airing immediately afterward, Liverpool/West Ham had 587,000 viewers — up 9% from Newcastle/Liverpool last year (537K) and up 54% from Aston Villa/Leicester City in 2014 (381K). Ratings fell just a hair year-over-year (0.36 to 0.35). NBCSN opened the day with a 0.1 and 184,000 for Chelsea/West Brom; there was no comparable window last year or in 2014.
Shifting back to Saturday, Arsenal/Stoke City had a 0.3 (flat) and 456,000 (-13%), Watford/Everton had a 0.1 (-67%) and 225,000 (-36%) and Swansea/Sunderland brought up the rear with just 73,000 viewers on CNBC (-74%).
In the season’s first set of midweek matches, Everton/Arsenal had 131,000 viewers on Tuesday and Crystal Palace/Manchester United 224,000 on Wednesday, both on NBCSN. There were no midweek games in week sixteen of last season or 2014.
(Numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 12/13, Awful Announcing 12/17, Sports TV Ratings 12/14, 12/15)
