NBC Sports says that February 2014 was the most-watched month ever for Premier League soccer on US television, where the networks of NBCUniversal saw a viewership increase of 76% compared to the previous best month in US history.
Certainly part of the boost was due to the Sochi Winter Games lead-in, but NBC Sports promoted its Premier League coverage heavily during the 2014 Winter Olympic Games coverage.
February marks two consecutive months where NBC has broken US monthly viewership records.
During February, the 17 Premier League matches on NBC, NBCSN and USA Network averaged 609,000 viewers – a 76% jump from the league’s best U.S. month prior to NBC Sports Group’s August 2013 debut of Premier League coverage (346,000 in Sept. 2011 for 12 matches on FOX/FOX Soccer and ESPN2).
In addition, the February viewership marks the second consecutive U.S. record monthly viewership for the Premier League, following the prior mark of 492,000 viewers for 14 Premier League telecasts on NBC and NBCSN in January.
Interestingly, while February posted record numbers, the February 8 broadcast of Swansea against Cardiff had more average viewers (1.2 million) on NBC than the February 22 broadcast of Crystal Palace versus Manchester United (1.1 million) on the same network.
Premier League soccer returns this Saturday on NBCSN with eight hours of continuous EPL coverage, beginning at 7am ET and ending at 3pm ET. Stay tuned to the latest TV listings by bookmarking the Premier League TV schedule.
