Average viewing figures for English men’s soccer’s top-tier Premier League (EPL) decreased by 7% for US broadcast partner NBC Sports in 2024-25.
NBC, which holds English and Spanish-language EPL rights in the US through 2027-28 in a deal covering all 380 games per season, averaged 510,000 viewers for EPL games last season, which concluded on May 25.
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This figure is down by 7% year-on-year from the average viewing number secured in 2023-24.
Despite the slight drop, 2024-25 still marked the fourth consecutive season in which NBC’s EPL English-language average viewing figure was above 500,000 per game, marking a league record in the US.
In total, 17.14 billion minutes of EPL action were consumed by league viewers, while there were also 12 specific games with average viewing numbers of 1 million – the second-most for any specific season across NBC’s 12 years of partnership with the English league.
In terms of numbers for individual games, the opening day clash between Chelsea and Manchester City (at that point, the defending champions) back in August was watched by 1.8 million, the highest figure last season.
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By GlobalDataPeacock, the subscription streaming service also run by NBCUniversal, last season aired four of the seven most-streamed EPL games ever, for a US audience, meanwhile.
The clash between Arsenal and Manchester United on February 2 was the most-streamed encounter last campaign, with an average minute audience of 1 million.
Indeed, for the second consecutive year, fans streamed over 4 billion minutes of EPL action.
Meanwhile, in terms of social media coverage of the league via NBC Sports’ accounts, impressions increased by 15% from 2023-24, while video views jumped up by 34% from last season.
The broadcaster’s YouTube channel also finished the season with over 180 million total video views, hitting that number for the third campaign in a row.
The current NBC deal with the Premier League began with the 2022-23 campaign and is worth $2.69 billion in total over the six seasons.
US players contracted to EPL clubs include Antonee Robinson, Chris Richards, and Tyler Adams.
In terms of recent NBCUniversal activity, late last month, reports emerged that the network has bid to secure the Major League Baseball (MLB) domestic media rights package that Disney-owned ESPN is set to drop following the 2025 campaign.
NBCU reportedly lodged a bid for ESPN’s package, which includes 30 nationally broadcast games, 25 of which are “Sunday Night Baseball,” the opening night game each season, and the Home Run Derby exhibition, each season.
