NBC Sports generated record levels of US viewership for the English Premier League finale on May 12, an audience that network executives credited to both the heated title race between Manchester City and Liverpool, and still-growing American interest in the EPL.
The network posted a total audience delivery of 2.2 million US viewers, up 19 per cent from last year’s season finale, and the most-watched Championship Sunday ever in America. As it has since it started airing EPL games in August 2013, NBC showed all 10 final-day matches across its various channels that in addition to its core NBC broadcast network and NBC Sports Network included other cable outlets such as the Golf Channel, USA Network, CNBC and Syfy, among others.
The rising US interest was fueled in no small part by the EPL title race coming down to the final day for the first time in five years. But Pierre Moossa, coordinating producer for NBC Sports’ EPL coverage, said a broader, generational groundswell of fan support is building stateside.
“This was unquestionably a special season where you had two great teams continuing to push each other to be better, and that manifested itself in the audience numbers. It was exceptional, compelling competition,” Moossa said. “But the support that is building here in the US for the EPL is something I don’t think will be be fully appreciated until another generation from now. People that began to watch EPL here as kids are now becoming adults and will soon have families of their own. And the letters we continue to get telling us about how deeply these broadcasts have become part of their families’ lives really tell us something.”
For the full EPL season, NBC averaged a total audience delivery of 457,000 per match window, up 2 per cent from 449,000 during the 2017-18 season. Those numbers do not include Spanish-language telecasts or streaming on the NBC Sports Gold subscription product. The network’s “Men In Blazers” show also averaged 133,000 viewers, up 53 per cent from the prior season – its most-watched season ever.
