Chelsea-Man City match nets ratings gold for NBC in US

DetailsMichelle Clancy | 07 February 2015




NBC’s live broadcast of Chelsea against Manchester City registered as the third most-viewed Premier League game in US television history.


The 31 January match, which ended in a 1-1 draw, saw an average viewing audience of 1.35 million people — comparable to NBC’s previous record of 1.4 million people, who watched the 22 November broadcast of the Arsenal-Manchester United match.

The game also has the distinction of being the most-streamed weekend Premier League match in US history, with more than 73,000 unique views on NBC Sports Live Extra.

The record for a Premier League game on US pay-TV was the November 2011 broadcast of a Chelsea-Liverpool match, viewed by 1.626 million people. That game wasn’t even live: it was shown on tape delay after a NFL game.

NBC Sports Group expects to continue to reap success with football coverage, with live coverage of two of the biggest derbies in English football this weekend: Tottenham v Arsenal in London and the Everton v Liverpool Merseyside derby.