The sixth week of the Premier League season scored big increases — and big declines — on NBCSN.
Last Sunday’s Southampton/Manchester United English Premier League match drew 629,000 viewers on NBCSN, up 146% from West Brom/Burnley last year (256K), up 49% from Sunderland/Liverpool in 2013 (422K), and the top EPL telecast of the week.
The substantial increase is all the more impressive considering the match had to compete with Liverpool/Norwich City on USA Network (320K). The combined audience in the timeslot — 949,000 viewers — is the largest for any Premier League window on cable this season.
Earlier in the morning, Tottenham/Crystal Palace drew 304,000 viewers on USA, up 73% from Stoke City/Norwich City on NBCSN in 2013 (176K). There was no match in the window last year.
Shifting to Saturday, Chelsea/Arsenal drew 607,000 viewers in the early window — up 41% from Liverpool/Everton last year (429K) and up 87% from Tottenham/Chelsea in 2013 (324K). Only Manchester United/Tottenham drew a larger audience in the window this season, scoring 626,000 on the opening weekend.
The day’s remaining games did not fare as well. Swansea City/Everton had 350,000 viewers in the mid-morning window, down 36% from Manchester United/West Ham last year (550K) and down 7% from Aston Villa/Manchester City in 2013 (376K). In the afternoon window, Manchester City/West Ham earned 395,000 — down 26% from Arsenal/Tottenham last year (537K) and down 44% from Swansea/Arsenal on the NBC broadcast network in 2013 (710K).
