NBC scored a near season-high EPL audience last weekend.
Last Saturday’s Arsenal/Everton English Premier League match drew a 0.8 final rating and 1.2 million viewers on NBC, up a tick in ratings and 16% in viewership from Arsenal/Liverpool in 2013 (0.7, 991K). There was no comparable window in week ten of last season.
Arsenal’s win ranks as the second-most watched EPL telecast of the season, trailing only Manchester United/Liverpool in mid-September (1.25M to 1.15M).
NBC also drew a 0.6 and 799,000 for Liverpool/Southampton on Sunday; there were no comparable windows last year or in 2013. The telecast scored NBC’s second-smallest EPL audience of the season (seven telecasts), ahead of only Watford/Arsenal the previous week (735K).
Shifting to cable, the season’s first edition of the Manchester Derby had 769,000 on NBCSN Sunday morning — up 116% from Tottenham/Aston Villa last year (356K) and up 163% from Cardiff City/Swansea City in 2013 (292K). Compared to the sides’ first meeting last year, which took place on the comparable day of the season but in an earlier timeslot, viewership declined by 7% from 826,000.
Sunderland/Newcastle had 202,000 earlier in the morning, down 76% from last year’s aforementioned Manchester Derby. Viewership was not available for the comparable match in 2013, which aired on CNBC.
Rounding out the week ten slate, NBCSN drew 536,000 for Saturday’s West Ham/Chelsea match — down 8% from Queens Park/Chelsea last year (583K) but up 47% from Fulham/Manchester United in 2013 (364K). Concurrent coverage of Leicester City/Crystal Palace had 188,000 on USA Network, bringing the combined total up to 724,000.
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily, Sports TV Ratings [1], [2])
