Premier League Pushing Huge Viewership Gains for NBC Sports Group

Nearly 10 million viewers have tuned in to NBC Sports Group's Premier League coverage since Aug. 17, leading to a 67 percent daily viewership increase for NBCSN, marking the largest cable sports network growth over that span. Meanwhile, mobile viewership continues its rapid growth; fans have streamed nearly 35 million minutes via NBC Sports Live Extra over that span.

NBC Sports Group's inaugural season at the exclusive US rights owner of the Premier League is off to a roaring start, with milestones being set every week.

Almost 10 million people have tuned in to NBC Sports Group’s Premier League television coverage to date – featuring 36 telecasts on five networks (four on NBC, 22 on NBCSN, one on CNBC, nine on mun2 – does not include Telemundo). The 27 English-language games on NBC, NBCSN and CNBC drew a total of 9.1 million viewers – up 92 percent from the 4.8 million total for the first five weeks of live action on ESPN and Fox Soccer last year. In addition, Sunday’s NBCSN telecast of "Manchester Derby" became the most-viewed cable game this season and second most-viewed on record.

Since the Premier League season kicked off on Aug. 17, NBCSN has posted a 67 percent increase in average total day viewership – tops among any sports cable network. NBCSN’s Premier League telecasts are averaging 391,000 viewers – a 70 percent jump over the average posted by ESPN, ESPN2 and Fox Soccer after five weeks last year (230,000).

Additional milestones from NBC Sports Group’s Premier League coverage:

• "Manchester Derby" Most-Watched Match On NBCSN: Sunday’s "Manchester Derby" between Manchester City and Manchester United ranks as NBCSN’s most-watched telecast since the Stanley Cup Final in June, and delivered cable’s second most-watched Premier League telecast on record with 852,000 viewers. Viewing of the match peaked from 11:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m. with more than 1 million viewers.

• Most-Watched Weekday Match: NBCSN’s Aug. 26 telecast of Manchester United v. Chelsea ranks as the No. 2 all-time viewership among weekday, early season (prior to December) Premier League matches on U.S. television. The match also marked NBCSN’s best weekday audience since the 2012 London Olympics.

• Highest Opening Weekend Average Viewership: The five games on NBC and NBCSN averaged 443,000 viewers — +78 percent above the ESPN/Fox Soccer average for five games on Opening Weekend last year (249,000 average viewers).

• Best Opening Weekend on Cable in U.S. History: For games on cable, the four weekend matches on NBCSN averaged 356,000 viewers – ranking as the most-watched Premier League opening weekend on cable in the U.S., and a +43 percent increase from last year’s 249,000 average viewership for the five games on ESPN and Fox Soccer.

• Nearly 35 Million Minutes Streamed: Fans have live streamed 34.7 million minutes of Premier League action so far this season via NBC Sports Live Extra, NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices and tablets. Through 50 games this season, there have been 1.7 million live starts on NBC Sports Live Extra.

• Debut of Bonus TV Package: This the first time that all Premier League games are available on television on the networks of NBCUniversal and the Premier League Extra Time bonus television package. Extra Time is available at no extra cost to fans who receive NBC Sports Network through their cable/satellite/telco providers.

• NBC Sports Group presents the most ambitious, extensive and comprehensive coverage of the Premier League available anywhere in the world with all 380 Premier League matches available live in the United States on the networks of NBCUniversal, on the Premier League Extra Time bonus TV package, and streamed live on NBC Sports Live Extra. In total, NBC Sports Group will present more than 1,600 hours of Premier League programming this season.