It was not an all-time record, as the overnights indicated, but Leicester City’s unexpected coronation delivered season-high viewership on NBCSN.
NBCSN had 908,000 viewers for last Sunday’s Leicester City/Manchester United English Premier League match, up 621% from Manchester City/Queens Park on CNBC last year (126K) but down 3% from Liverpool/Chelsea in 2014 (940K). It was the most-watched EPL match of the season on cable, topping the previous high of 866,000 for Arsenal/Manchester United in October.
Overall, it was the sixth-most watched EPL telecast ever on NBCSN and the seventh-most watched on any U.S. cable network. Five of those top seven have involved Manchester United.
Leicester had a chance to clinch the Premier League crown on Sunday but fell short in a 1-1 draw. The Foxes did not wrap up the title until Monday afternoon, when second-place Tottenham was eliminated from title contention in a draw with Chelsea. That match had 417,000 viewers on NBCSN, up 16% from Arsenal/Swansea last year (359K) and up 23% from Arsenal/Newcastle in 2014 (338K).
In other action, Arsenal/Norwich City pulled a 0.6 final rating and 842,000 viewers on the NBC broadcast network — up 100% in ratings and 61% in viewership from Crystal Palace/Manchester United on NBCSN last year (0.3, 523K) and up a tick and 17%, respectively, from Manchester United/Norwich City on NBC in 2014 (0.5, 717K).
NBCSN had 329,000 for Stoke City/Sunderland earlier in the morning, down 5% from Newcastle/West Brom last year (346K) but up 6% from Fulham/Hull City in 2014 (309K). The concurrent Newcastle/Crystal Palace match drew 187,000 on USA Network, bringing the combined total in the window to 516,000.
Finally, Sunday’s Southampton/Manchester City match scored 543,000 on NBCSN — down 9% from Chelsea/Liverpool last year (596K) but up 3% from Crystal Palace/Manchester City in 2014 (528K). Swansea/Liverpool had 206,000 earlier in the morning; there was no comparable window last year.
(Wknd. numbers from NBC Sports Group Press Box, Sports TV Ratings [1], [2], [3], Sports Business Daily)
