The English Premier League (EPL) experienced a slight decrease in viewership for the US broadcast partner, NBC Sports, during the 2024-25 season. Despite this dip, the league still managed to maintain impressive viewing figures and set new records.
NBC Sports reported an average of 510,000 viewers per EPL game during the last season that concluded on May 25. This figure represents a year-on-year decrease of 7% from the average viewing number secured in the previous season (2023-24). However, it's worth noting that this is still above half a million viewers per game - marking a league record in the US for four consecutive seasons.
Record-breaking consumption
Despite this slight drop in average viewing figures, there was no shortage of appetite for EPL action among fans. In total, an astounding 17.14 billion minutes of EPL soccer were consumed by league viewers throughout the season.
Moreover, there were also twelve specific games with average viewing numbers hitting one million – making it second-most for any specific season across NBC’s twelve years of partnership with English football's top-tier league. In terms of individual games' popularity, some matches attracted significantly higher viewer numbers than others. The opening day clash of Chelsea vs Manchester City back in August was watched by approximately 1.8 million people - making it one of last season's most-watched matches.
Peacock - NBCUniversal’s subscription streaming service - aired four out of seven most-streamed EPL games ever viewed by a US audience last season. The match between Arsenal and Manchester United on February 2nd had an average minute audience reaching up to one million – becoming last campaign’s most-streamed encounter. For the second consecutive year, fans streamed over 4 billion minutes of EPL action, demonstrating the growing popularity of online streaming for sports content.
Social media engagement increases
In terms of social media coverage via NBC Sports’ accounts, impressions increased by 15% from the previous season (2023-24), while video views jumped up by a significant 34%. The broadcaster’s YouTube channel also finished the season with over 180 million total video views - hitting this impressive figure for three campaigns in a row.
NBC's current deal with Premier League began in the 2022-23 campaign and is worth $2.69 billion in total over six seasons. This partnership covers all English and Spanish-language EPL rights in the US through to 2027-28, covering all Premier League games per season. The league continues to attract US players contracted to EPL clubs such as Antonee Robinson, Chris Richards, and Tyler Adams - further boosting its appeal among American audiences.
In recent developments involving NBCUniversal, reports have emerged that they have bid to secure Major League Baseball (MLB) domestic media rights package that Disney-owned ESPN is set to drop following their campaign in 2025.
