The English Premier League's viewership on NBC Sports for the 2024/25 season saw a significant drop, recording the lowest average audience since the 2021/22 season. The broadcaster reported an average audience of 510,000 viewers per match window.
The Total Audience Delivery (TAD) for each match window experienced a seven percent year-over-year decline. However, despite this drop, the Premier League coverage still managed to garner approximately 14 billion minutes of viewership on NBCUniversal platforms in both English and Spanish languages.
This impressive figure represents the second-highest consumption ever recorded for the league. Furthermore, twelve matches that were broadcasted on NBC’s linear networks averaged a TAD of at least one million viewers this season, equalling the second-highest tally previously recorded by the broadcaster. The most-watched game of this season was Manchester City's triumphant opening weekend win against Chelsea on August 18th, which attracted around 1.8 million viewers across NBC and Peacock platforms.
Digital engagement metrics
Despite a dip in TV ratings, digital engagement demonstrated promising growth. Fans streamed more than four billion minutes of Premier League matches for the second year running. There was also a significant surge in social media activity related to Premier League posts: impressions saw a year-on-year increase of fifteen percent, video views rose by thirty-four percent, and overall engagement climbed by an impressive forty-two percent.
Additionally, NBC Sports' YouTube channel has consistently performed well over the past three seasons, accumulating more than one hundred eighty million views and racking up over 1.2 billion minutes watched.
The Peacock streaming service plays an integral role in broadcasting English soccer games. All three hundred eighty games are available to stream live. In its fifth full season streaming matches, Peacock accounted for four out of seven most-streamed games ever in US history with each game netting an average audience of over 800,000 viewers.
NBC and Premier League partnership
NBC has held the US rights to broadcast the Premier League matches since 2013. The network renewed its deal with the English top flight in 2021 for a whopping US$2.7 billion over six years, making it the league’s most lucrative international rights agreement. This contract will run through until the end of the 2027/28 campaign.
Despite a decrease in viewership this season, NBC remains committed to broadcasting Premier League matches as one of its most popular sports properties. The network also achieved its highest US Premier League viewership in any season where the title was won with at least four weeks remaining - Liverpool clinched this year's title with four games left to play.
