The numbers are in, and U.S. viewership of the English Premier League just keeps rising.
Since acquiring regional broadcast rights, NBC Sports has seen ratings increase by more than 150% in this market (to an average of 563,000 HH per match). In addition, fans have streamed 139 MM live minutes of NBC Sports digital coverage this season, which began in August, 44% more than the same period last year.
But it’s not solely about quantity, it’s also about quality. The Premier League audience is about 38 years old on average, among the youngest in major televised sports and a demographic advertisers covet. Compare this, for example, to the average age of an ESPN baseball viewer, who is 56 years old.
If you haven’t seen the Wall Street Journal’s detailed breakdown of this $950MM rights deal, please do so here. It’s a great read and it’s further proof of the Stateside power in this property.
Categories: Digital Content, EPL, Television Ratings